Love Stings
by Juliet Deveraux
Summary: COMPLETE! Lily Potter is tense, to say the very least, about being the newest professor at Hogwarts. But the word 'tense' doesn't even begin to cover her feelings when she meets her attractive coworker, Scorpius Malfoy...
1. Schoolgirl Crush

**Summary** - Lily Potter is tense about being the newest professor at Hogwarts, but the word doesn't even seem to cover her feelings when she meets her colleague Scorpius Malfoy. A new, chaotic era filled with betrayal, revelations and perhaps a little romance, promises to spice up her first year of teaching. LPSM, DH spoilers.

**Disclaimer** – I don't own Harry Potter or any affiliated characters or trademarks. If I did, I'd be rolling in my piles of money instead of writing fanfics on my crappy computer XD

* * *

Invisible worms seemed to wriggle under the skin of Lily Luna Potter. Feeling rather nauseous and clammy, the young witch had resigned to keep her eyes firmly focused on the table in front of her. This was the only strategy she had come up with to prevent the butterflies in her stomach from escaping onto the floor of the Great Hall.

"Welcome, to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

If the anxiety hadn't already kicked into her system, this would have been the clincher. For the first time, since she was a student there, Lily looked out over the Great Hall. It was odd to see things from a different perspective; this time she was looking out from behind the teachers' desk, rather than from her house table. All the students here seemed so much smaller, now that she was grown up… she had never believed in a million years that she would have would up coming back to this place, let alone as the newest Potions professor.

Headmistress Vector, looking much the same as Lily had remembered her from her own schooling years, stood at the podium to deliver the routine start-of-year speech. Septima's voice was mostly drowned out by the panicky voices inside Lily's head, but a few sentences were clearly audible: "Now, to some notices on staffing. Madam Hooch is currently ill with a dreadful case of spattergoit, and will be indefinitely replaced by Professor Tristan Saunders." said the tight-lipped witch, indicating a tall gentleman with greying hair. He stood up and nodded curtly to the crowd of onlooking students, then sat back down.

She continued: "We congratulate Professor Horace Slughorn on his recent retirement and also welcome our newest staff member, Professor Lily Potter."

The bottom of Lily's stomach dropped at this, the moment she had been dreading. Whispers broke out throughout the room; undoubtedly, the students were questioning whether she was really the daughter of _the_ famous Harry Potter. Almost frozen to the spot, Lily looked at Professor Flitwick on her left, for direction. A nod from him signalled her to stand up. Looking up at the crowd of students for the first time, she stood, giving them a weak nod and feeble smile before immediately retaking her post.

After the speech she chatted to the various Professors, all of whom were friendly and quite eager to give her tips on how to control students. Lily spent most of the feast listening diligently to her colleagues, the feeling in her stomach growing worse as they explained in detail, the horrors of their first year of teaching. But they all brushed it off, insisting, "It gets easier," when they saw the terrified expression on her face.

Halfway through a sip of pumpkin juice, Lily realised that the seat to her right was vacant. A small frown creased her brow as she wondered who had replaced her old Transfiguration teacher. Shrugging it off, she supposed she would meet him or her tomorrow.

Tomorrow. That was when the thought struck her… the very next day, she would be teaching her first class of students.

* * *

Lily stood in front of the oval mirror of her quarters, examining her appearance from every angle for the millionth time. Finally pulling her hair into a loose bun, the young woman decided it wasn't going to get any better than this. In appearance, Lily was almost a carbon copy of her mother, Ginny; Lily was rather short, though not as stocky, and had those same chocolate coloured eyes. Her pale complexion meant she burnt easily in the sunlight, but luckily she was more of an indoors person anyway.

The only way in which she didn't resemble her mother was her wavy ebony hair. Naturally it was the same colour as her mother, but she had been the subject of much ridicule for her trademark Weasley locks that she had used potions to change it since her first years of Hogwarts. Her parents never understood why she wasn't comfortable with herself the way she was; like her mother she was a reasonably attractive girl. But since she had also inherited the stubbornness of both her parents, Lily always had to have things her way.

With a deep sigh, and some muttered, last-minute reminders to herself, Lily decided she couldn't stall any longer. If she didn't hurry up she was going to miss breakfast, not that that would be a bad thing, considering her nerves at the present time.

Briskly, she made her way to the Great Hall, avoiding the curious eyes of students as she took her seat. "Good morning, Professor Flitwick," she greeted one of her colleagues with false cheer, hoping that maybe if she appeared confident the students would not prey on her fear.

Flitwick saw through this feeble defence in about a millisecond. He proceeded to repeat everything he had said to her about his first year. Finally, after she had spent about five minutes poking her poached egg rather than, eating it, he said something that interested her. "But that was a long time ago… this evening I'll introduce you Scorpius, the Transfiguration Professor." said Flitwick, nodding to the empty seat beside her. Scorpius? Why did that name have a certain hint of familiarity about it? "He was just as nervous as you when he started, a couple of years ago. I'm sure he'd be glad to give you a few pointers."

"Well, thank you very much for your advice, Professor Flitwick, I'll keep it in mind. If you'll excuse me, I think I'd better do some last minute preparations for my first lesson." said Lily politely. In truth, she just wanted to get away in case he repeated his stories again; though he had been one of her favourite teachers when she was at Hogwarts, Lily had to admit that Flitwick was becoming slightly senile in his old age. Plus, the sooner she got to her first class, the sooner it would be over with. She had the first years first period; with any luck they would be just as scared as Lily was.

* * *

Her first day had gone reasonably well, Lily thought. There were minimum injuries, and her first year class had given her confidence that she was capable of doing this job. Second year however, were a rather rowdy bunch, and a rather clumsy boy named Liam Archer had somehow managed to knock over his cauldron of… well, whatever it was that he created.

With a contended sigh, she made her way to the Great Hall, but was soon distracted from her thoughts by the call of one of her fellow Professors. _Oh god, Professor Flitwick isn't going to ask me about my first day again, is he? He already asked three times before lunch!_

Spinning around on the spot, the petite Potter saw that Flitwick was accompanied by a tall man with blonde hair, grey eyes and a rather pointed face. Something about him reminded her of her parent's school album, but she couldn't quite pick the resemblance.

As they drew closer she realised that the man who had to be the Transfiguration Professor, was rather attractive. The word rather being an understatement. And just like that, the butterflies had returned. Although compared to those of yesterday, these had to be killer butterflies. "This is the one I was taking about, Scorpius! Since you're the newest staff member aside from Lily here, I supposed you'd have some pointers for her. Now if you'll both excuse me, I need to find Septima…" Flitwick trailed off dottily, turning a corner and leaving the young Professors alone.

"Hi, I'm Lily…" said the young witch, a slight crimson occupying her usually pale cheeks. Suddenly she felt rather like a student again, with some schoolgirl crush on the mysterious boy on the other side of the room… _Well, it's not like I'm an old woman or anything…_ she thought to herself, trying to justify this sudden onset of immaturity. At 23 years old I reserve the right to having stupid crushes!

She extended a hand to the man, who probably wasn't half as taken with her as she was with him. "Hi, I'm-" _Really really hot?_ Lily thought to herself with a snicker, filling in her own blanks. However she scolded herself mentally, thinking of how mortified she would be if he could hear her thoughts.

At that very second, before he had had a chance to properly introduce himself, her hair went a violent shade of red; her natural colour. Lily blushed crimson; perhaps today wasn't the best time to be trialling some new colour change potion that she had been trying to invent… Scorpius, however, seemed amazed.

"Wow, are you a metamorphmagus?" he questioned, impressed. "I've always wanted to meet one."

Oh, she thought to herself, crestfallen; Lily thought he was amazed by _her_. It wasn't _that_ much of a far stretch, was it? _How silly_, she thought to herself. _He's the transfiguration professor, of course he's going to be interested by something transforming without any magic..._

"No," Lily replied, "I was just testing this potion I tried to invent… see, all the hair colour-changing potions I've used stop working after a couple of days… so I tried to invent my own… pretty stupid, huh?" Her cheeks had still not lost their reddish tinge.

"No, I think it's fascinating… Potions may not be my forte, but I'm – well, I'm fair decent at Transfiguration-"

"More than decent, I'm sure, otherwise you wouldn't be here." she interjected, blushing even redder if possible. _What is wrong with you? Why don't you just scream that you've developed some stupid schoolgirl crush on him, you're already that obvious?_

"Thank you, you're too kind… but anyway, I'm sure Transfiguration is involved at some stage… if you want help with your Potion I'd be glad to help." offered Scorpius with a smile. Unfortunately, charm was not a quality he was blessed with; certainly if he had been, he would have chosen this moment to use it. He too, had noticed that his now co-worker was rather striking. However she seemed to like him, so Scorpius supposed he could risk being his dorky old self.

They began walking toward the Great Hall together. "That sounds great. I've almost run out of ideas, to tell you the truth."

"Well, I'm sure I could help you with some research. Oh, but I forgot to properly introduce myself." They stopped at the entrance of the Great Hall. "I'm Scorpius, Scorpius Malfoy."

* * *

**Author's Note -** Ooh, cliffie! How will she react to this new development? Will it be Harry and Draco rivalry all over again? Anyway, I hope things are moving along rather quickly, I hate stories with no action XD And I have many plans for the future… oh yes; family issues, humour, romance, betrayal, to name a few. So tell me what you think in a review… if you do, I'll post the next chapter quicker :)


	2. A Cruel, Cruel Man

"_I'm Scorpius, Scorpius Malfoy."_

The world around her seemed to freeze at this moment. Lily suddenly realized why he seemed so familiar. Her Uncle Ron had told her all sorts of stories about the Malfoys, a family which the Weasleys' weren't exactly on good terms with, to put it mildly.

"_Never trust a Malfoy, they're bad news, the lot of them."_ Ron had told her at the time, indicating a picture of a blonde boy with an imperious smirk on his face in their school album. Lily had looked to her father Harry to affirm or deny this, but his face was rather blank. From the conversations she had overheard between her father and mother, Lily assumed her father and Draco Malfoy had some sort of grudging respect for each other. Scorpius was almost the spitting image of his father, except for the slightly darker hair she assumed he had inherited from his mother.

Thinking back, she remembered seeing Scorpius one of the first years she went to Platform 9 ¾ to see off her brothers Albus and James, and her favourite cousins Rose and Victoire. Although it didn't really matter to her that Scorpius was a Malfoy, what if he felt differently about her? What if Draco had impressed the same hatred onto him that her uncle Ron had tried to impress upon her? And if by some miracle he didn't, and Scorpius liked her in return, what would her family think? As if liking someone wasn't complicated enough in the first place!

Taking a deep breath, Lily supposed she would have to reply at some time… he had missed the start-of-year announcements due to his absence at assembly, so it was likely he did not yet know her last name…

"Oh, you were in the same year as my brother," she began. "Albus, Albus Potter." Instead of going further to say that her name was Lily Potter, she stopped at this point. Lily could hardly bear to say those words herself, if it was going to make him hate her… _A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,_ she thought to herself ironically.

Scorpius looked slightly surprised, but any vile hatred he felt toward her had not manifested itself on his face. Perhaps this meant he didn't hate her... "Oh, yes, I remember him… that would make you Lily Potter, then?" he half-questioned, as though he needed her to affirm this to believe her. Lily nodded. "Oh, well then… it seems our families have some history… I hope this doesn't have to affect our, er, relationship? As co-workers, I mean."

Lily shook her head, sighing inwardly with relief. He was willing to put family rivalries behind them, thank goodness. "No, of course not." she said, perhaps a little too quickly. With the slight crimson tinge rapidly becoming a permanent fixture on her face, Lily said, "I suppose we should get to the teacher's table… I mean we sit next to each other, we can talk during dinner time."

"Oh, yes, of course." said Scorpius with a nod; he had evidently forgotten that they had had a destination before their meeting. With this they made their way to their seats, and after a few words from the Headmistress, dinner had begun.

"So, how long have you been teaching here?" Lily questioned Scorpius, who was seated to her right. She made sure that no food was in a position to leave her mouth as she spoke.

Scorpius had to pause to think. "This will be my third year here. The previous teacher was involved in a rather nasty accident… I'd rather not go into details," he said with a small laugh. "Could you pass the carrots?"

Lily passed the carrots. "Do you enjoy it? To be quite honest, Transfiguration isn't one of my strengths… I just don't see the point. If you're ever faced with a duel or anything, what can you do, turn your opponent into a toad?" She hoped he would join in the joke, rather than taking it too personally.

Scorpius laughed, to her relief. Lily found herself quite appreciative of the sound. "Well, it's a complicated subject, but it's good fun once you get the hang of it. A toad? No, I prefer to turn inanimate objects into pins and poke my opponents mercilessly until they surrender." he joked, a small giggle escaping from Lily in response. "What do you do in a duel, summon a collapsible cauldron and brew some kind of terrible poison?" She was rather enjoying this conversation, even if he was now poking fun at her.

"No, I always keep a boil sprouting solution handy, just in case. Without that I suppose I'd have to resort to using nails. Peas?"

"No, thank you. Little green orbs of death, they are," he said with distaste, gesturing at the spherical vegetables with a bronze fork.

Lily snickered. "Why, did you choke to death on one?" she joked. As soon as she said it, she regretted it; what if someone in his family actually _had_ choked to death on one? That would make things rather awkward, not to mention it was insensitive. _Of course no one in his family choked to death on a pea_, Lily scolded herself. _That's stupid, not to mention nearly impossible. Why do I always assume the worst?_

Once again to her relief, Scorpius laughed. "No, they just taste filthy."

For the remainder of dinner they discussed whatever subjects they pleased, from favourite Quidditch team, to novels, to music… although the two certainly had their differences, it was clear this meal was the beginning of a strong friendship. Or maybe something else, Lily hoped.

"So, did you still want me to help you with your potion? I'm sure I could be of some assistance," said Scorpius as the two were about to part ways, back to their offices.

"Oh yes, that would be lovely," said Lily. She had almost exhausted all the possibilities by now, but Scorpius didn't know that. Surely it couldn't hurt…

"Well, I'll be bogged down in marking homework tasks for the next couple of days, but how about Friday night?"

"You gave out homework on the first day? You cruel, cruel man," Lily joked.

"It runs in the family," he joked. Scorpius wondered whether this was an appropriate thing to say, considering their family history… however by the smile on her face, Lily had taken it as he meant it; as a joke.

* * *

For the next few nights, Lily spread herself between marking homework tasks and patrol duty. Unfortunately she hadn't shared one of her shifts with Scorpius yet, but she thought she heard him say something about Monday night, when she would also be on duty. However first, she would have to survive their Friday night session making colour-change potions. 

Time seemed to move slower than usual, just to spite her, like an impatient child waiting for everyone to wake up on Christmas day and open their presents. However eventually it arrived, and about an hour after dinner that night there was a knock on the door. He was about an hour earlier than she expected, and Lily had been contemplating whether to change into some nicer robes. Nevertheless they would be working with Potions, which could get pretty messy. Plus, she didn't think Scorpius would mind.

"Come in," she called, checking her appearance in a small mirror at the last second before he opened the door. Scorpius was wearing plain robes, too, and holding an old, green leather-bound book with gold trim. Lily recognized it as one she had bought from Flourish and Blotts in her sixth year for a bit of extra work.

Scorpius stepped further into her chamber. "Hey. Blimey, I'll never get used to the lighting in these dungeons. I almost got lost." Lily wondered why, after sixth years as a Slytherin, he could almost get lost on the way to her office. It was right near the Slytherin common room, after all. Actually, that was a thought that hadn't crossed her mind… she had assumed, because of his parentage that he would have been a Slytherin in his school years. She didn't remember Albus saying anything about him, but he could just as easily have been a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff… Lily would somehow worm it out of Scorpius without him knowing, that was a talent of hers…

"Well, I can't say I've ever had the same problem – getting lost, I mean," she replied, "But they are rather dreary, aren't they?" As she was not the Slytherin Head of House – that position went to Professor Vector – there wasn't much Lily could do about that.

"Mmm. It's nice in here though." For a couple of seconds they sort of stared at each other aimlessly, when Scorpius broke the silence. "Anyway, I've been looking through this book for ingredients that have the right properties," he began, and upon closer inspection she noticed post-it notes sticking from several of the pages throughout the book. "And I think this one would be perfect." He opened the book to a page with a red post it note and indicated the ingredient to her.

Taking the book from him, she examined the page. Boomslang skin, a key ingredient in Polyjuice potion, but not colour-change potion. Lily knew this because she had already tried the ingredient, to no avail. But she didn't want to dash all his hard work in the first five minutes and cut their meeting short. A number of other pages had red notes, so she assumed he had come up with other possibilities. "Well, this could be interesting. Let's give it a go,"

Lily proceeded to explain what she had already found through her past practices, which ingredients seemed to add to the length of time the potion lasted, how long to stir things for, that sort of thing. In no time, they begun the Potion, Lily giving Scorpius orders while chopping up obscure ingredients that she had found through prior research.

It didn't take long for her to realize that Scorpius was almost as bad at Potions as she was at Transfiguration. He was _terrible_. With some amusement, she wondered how he had passed his Potions O.W.L. After he diced an ingredient she asked him to chop finely, she was forced to giggle. "You didn't take Potions in your N.E.W.T.S, did you?" she laughed.

"Shut up," Scorpius said jokingly, pushing her head to the side playfully as she stepped over to chop it up properly. Their hands grazed briefly, and Lily thought she saw Scorpius blush; however she was used to this kind of thing, and didn't think all that much of it. With her lack of reaction, Scorpius seemed to realise it wasn't all that big of a deal.

However Lily did lose her concentration when he lowered his head, almost resting it on her shoulder, to observe how it was properly done. She knew very well that he was tall enough to see without doing this, but her nerves flared all the same. Her hand slipped a little and she managed to cut her left index finger. "Ouch," she muttered, looking at the crimson dripping from her finger.

"I'll fix that," said Scorpius, a sort of smirk on his face. He picked one of the post-it notes from the ingredient book and transfigured it into a band-aid. _Show off_, Lily thought to herself with a smirk. Peeling off the edges, he placed it around the end of her finger. "See? Transfiguration isn't all that useless, is it?" he joked, seeming quite pleased with himself for coming up with the idea.

Lily smirked. "Oh, but it is when I can do this," she peeled the band aid from her finger and healed the cut using a simple spell her aunt Hermione had once taught her. "See?" Lily said playfully, holding up the hand that was balled into a fist except for the index finger she was showing him.

"Well then," he said with a smile, raising his large, strong hand to envelop her smaller one. "Have it your way." For a few seconds the two stared into each other's eyes, cold grey meeting warm brown, before Scorpius became rather bashful and dropped her hand. _His hand was so cold_, thought Lily as he cleared his throat, scratching the nack of his neck. "So, ah, this is the last ingredient right?"

Lily, too, had remembered herself. It was a shame to end the moment, but the fact that they were supposed to be working had surfaced in her mind, even if she knew it wasn't going to work. "Yep, just a pinch of that and it should be ready… Would you like to do the honours?" she mocked.

"I certainly would." Scorpius replied with a grin, adding a pinch to the potion, which now turned a bright shade of puce.

Scooping out a ladleful of the somewhat foul-smelling potion, Scorpius baulked. "Ugh, that smells disgusting… are you sure you want to drink this? I don't want you ending up in St. Mungo's sprouting antlers or being poisoned or something…" he said, a joking smile masking genuine concern.

Lily shrugged. "Antlers are easy enough to remove… if I'm poisoned, you can give me this," She went to her cupboard and withdrew a small stone. "Bezoar." She handed it to Scorpius, who nodded.

Grimacing as she caught the pungent aroma of the potion, she raised her cup. "Bottom's up." With that she drained the glass, almost retching at the taste. She wiped the side of her mouth. "Ugh, it doesn't taste anything like it smells… it's much worse." Lily remarked.

"You are alright though, aren't you?" Scorpius questioned, Lily replying with a nod. "So how do we test how long it'll last for? I mean that could take days, couldn't it?"

Lily nodded, picking up a small vial of grey substance about the colour of troll bogeys. "We use ageing potion… you pour it on your hair and it ages, rather than drinking it."

"You're gonna be grey by the time you're my age," he joked.

"Well, working with you, I might be anyway. Plus, then I can match your eyes." Lily replied with a smile, playfully mussing his hair, to which they both laughed. After stopping to grin at each other, Lily said, "Now, for the moment of truth…"

She poured the liquid onto her hair, which, unfortunately, took only a few seconds to revert to its natural vibrant red. Lily shook her head, "No dice. Wouldn't last for more than a few hours."

Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "You didn't already know that, did you?" he questioned.

Lily feigned innocence. Much like her mother Ginny, lying on the spot was a forte of hers. "No, of course not. Why would I have wasted our time if I knew it wasn't going to work?"

Scorpius shrugged; apparently he had bought it. "No reason. Why do you change your hair colour anyway... I think it's lovely..." he reached out to stroke a lock of her soft red hair, examining the colour for a second before realising what he had done. Courage seemed to come in small spurts, for Scorpius... "Anyway, I suppose I'd better get going…" he said, managing to keep the reluctance from his voice. He liked spending time with Lily, despite what his parents would think of it… "Same time next week?" he questioned, standing at the door.

"Sure," Lily replied with a smile. "Looking forward to it."

"Great." He went to leave, but returned a second later. "Oh, and don't forget patrol duty on Monday, okay? I'm not sure I can handle those pesky students without your help…" Scorpius joked.

"Don't worry, I won't." With one last smile, he closed the door left for his quarters. Lily sighed. There was no way she was going to forget. And she had the perfect secret weapon to take with her, too…

* * *

Previews 

He stepped close to her, his tall figure towering effortlessly over her petite one. His face was inches away from hers… "_You're_ late." he said playfully.

_Was not_… her mind argued. Lily checked her watch and frowned. "Only by fourteen seconds…"

"Aha, almost a quarter of a minute you kept me waiting." he grinned.

"You're a dork," she replied, reaching up to mess up his hair like she had at their meeting on Friday. She liked the feeling of running her hand through his hair…

XXXXXXXXX

"It's all right. Let's just say it was a learning experience… I've learned that _you _are worse than Longbottom with a potion." she replied. Scorpius grinned at this, to which Lily grinned back. "You're going to be the death of me."

* * *

**Disclaimer -** Once again, the misfortune of not owning Harry Potter is mine... 

**Author's Note** - Just thought I'd give you a taste of what's to come with those previews, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please drop me a little review... I've decided not to update until I get at least four more XD


	3. Urgency and Explosions

Time had once again slowed painfully into the lead up to Monday night. Aside from occasional run-ins in and conversations with Scorpius in the corridors, the time they spent alone together was all Lily had to look forward to. Well, she liked her classes as well, but lessons definitely paled in comparison. From the time they had spent together already, Lily had gathered that Scorpius liked her as well, but seemed to be too shy to do anything about it. That was understandable, of course; in a working environment where they saw each other every day, things had the potential to get awkward. Plus, she wasn't entirely sure if the staff had a policy on Professors dating… Lily decided that the best she could do was take away any concerns he had, in the odd conversation. Doing this without his knowledge, however, was going to be a little bit difficult…

Tonight, however, would be the perfect time for them to get to know each other… long, dark, twisting corridors… and if any students were going to disturb them by being out of bed, Lily had a weapon that would help her deal with them quickly.

She had seen the map in he possession of her brother James, who she supposed had stole it from her father's desk. Before she left for her first day as a teacher, she had convinced him to give the map to his favourite (and only) sister, and explain how it worked; Lily could be very persuasive when she wanted to be. Plus, it wasn't all that difficult, since James had long ago left Hogwarts; it would be useless to him during Auror training. To Lily on the other hand, it would be invaluable.

Scorpius had organised to meet her near the statue of the humpbacked witch to begin their first patrol together. Halfway down an empty corridor, Lily tapped the Marauder's Map with her wand and whispered, 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!' With this utterance the map revealed its true purpose.

Lily spied wand light emanating from around the corner, meaning Scorpius was punctual as always. As she turned the corner Lily spied the smirk that occupied his attractive visage. He stepped close to her, his tall figure towering effortlessly over her petite one. His face was inches away from hers… "_You're_ late." he said playfully.

_Was not_… argued her mind. Lily checked her watch and frowned. "By fourteen seconds…"

"Aha, almost a quarter of a minute you kept me waiting." he grinned.

"You're a dork," she replied, reaching up to mess up his hair like she had at their meeting on Friday. She liked the feeling of running her hand through his hair… Thank goodness for her, Scorpius actually washed his hair, unlike 99.9 of the male population. "Let's get going."

"Right. Where to first… ladies' choice." said Scorpius. Lily couldn't risk checking the map straight away, that would be far too surreptitious… she would wait until her companion was focused on other things.

"Okay, how about Moaning Myrtle's bathroom? Perfect place to hide, if you ask me." she replied.

"Right. Myrtle's bathroom it is, then." They set off, silently at first, until Scorpius broke the silence. "So, any major accidents in your classes today?" he joked.

Lily snorted. "Don't even ask. That Colin Longbottom is going to be the death of me…" Scorpius laughed at this as they reached the bathroom, and Lily happened upon an idea. "We should check the cubicles, just to be sure." Lily would check the map when he was in a different cubicle.

"Righty-o then." said Scorpius, walking to the far cubicle. Lily immediately went to the cubicle nearest her and scanned the map. She noted that for some reason, the Minister of Magic was pacing around the Headmistress' office while McGonagall sat at her desk. Brushing that from her mind, she scanned the map for students out of bed. Aha!

"What's that?" questioned Scorpius from behind her, breaking her thoughts; she had been so absorbed in what she had seen she hadn't heard Scorpius creep up on her.

"Nothing," she lied, placing the old parchment in her robes quickly so Scorpius wouldn't question her further. "There's obviously no one here, how about we go to the kitchens?" Before he had interrupted her searching, Lily had seen a dot labelled 'Casey Stebbins' inside the kitchens.

"Excellent idea. I could really go for some chocolate éclairs..." grinned Scorpius.

Lily rolled her eyes playfully. "Thinking about your stomach at this time of night? Come on then, let's go." She grabbed his wrist and proceeded to forcibly drag Scorpius from the bathroom. Lily wanted to catch Stebbins quickly so she could spend the rest of the watch chatting to her co-worker. She walked quickly down the corridors, so swiftly in fact that Scorpius almost had to jog to keep up.

"Whoa, Lily, what's your rush?"

"Oh, nothing, I just – hey! You! Stebbins? Come here," Lily called as they rounded the corner to see the figure of a chubby boy in Hufflepuff robes, halfway down the corridor, clutching a serviette filled with what appeared to be canary creams.

"You're in fifth year, Stebbins, you should know very well students aren't allowed out of bed after hours." said Scorpius sternly. He checked his watch. "It's almost one o' clock in the morning!"

"In future I would thank you to eat your fill _at dinner time_." Lily placed emphasis on the last three words, brandishing her wand to vanish the canary creams. Casey Stebbins looked more concerned about the fact that he had nothing to eat than about being in trouble. "Come on, to the Headmistress with you."

The Professors and Stebbins were silent on their path to the Headmistress' office. Scorpius said the password that made the stone gargoyle spring sideways and allow them into the office. Standing outside the office door, Lily raised a fist to knock when she heard urgent, angry voices.

"Minerva, you don't understand! Hogwarts may be well protected, but this new-"

Lily knocked, quite sure that this conversation was not meant for their ears to overhear. Normally she would have been curious enough to hold a little longer, but not with Stebbins and Scorpius at her heels.

"Come in," came the voice of Professor McGonagall from within the chamber. Lily opened the door and the three of them entered, Scorpius looking slightly pale, she realised, as he stepped forward into the light.

"Sorry to interrupt," he began apologetically, looking from the red-faced man who they knew to be Silas Hawthorn, current Minister of Magic, to McGonagall. "But we found Stebbins here," his hand was firmly on the student's shoulder, "lurking by the kitchens way past bedtime."

"Is this so? In that case, Mr Stebbins, you will join me in detention in the Great Hall tomorrow afternoon! Five o' clock, sharp!" said the strict old witch shrilly. White faced, her lips were pursed in clear annoyance. "Professor Malfoy, Professor Potter, would you kindly escort Mr Stebbins here to his common room? Your watch will be finished once you're done." Lily and Scorpius nodded, and then proceeded to leave the office in the same silent way they had come. They dropped Stebbins off at the common room and warned him of further punishment if this behaviour were to continue, before setting off together again.

"What do you suppose they were talking about?" Lily asked Scorpius with interest. His face had an almost anxious look to it, though perhaps her somewhat tired eyes were deceiving her.

"Huh? Oh, I dunno… Whatever it was, we certainly weren't intended to hear it."

Lily frowned at his answer. Why was he so concerned? Did he think McGonagall would berate them for walking in on a private conversation? It was hardly their fault; they were only doing their duty. "Are you alright, Scorpius? You look awfully pale." she commented.

Scorpius nodded. "Thank you for your concern, but I'm fine. Listen, are we still on for this Friday night?"

He seemed eager to change the topic. Shrugging it off, she replied, "Yes, of course, if you're not too busy marking essays… we can try more of those ingredients you found."

"Great. Well, I suppose I'd better be off. Sweet dreams, Lily…" Scorpius said, a small smile on his face.

"Night, Scorpius." With this the two parted ways.

* * *

For the next couple of weeks Lily used their dinnertime conversations to learn more about Scorpius. Although she hadn't yet figured out what house he had been in at Hogwarts, there were plenty of other new things about him to learn, and Scorpius never failed to surprise her. Lily had been sure that Scorpius was close to his family, but over the next few days she gathered that he and his father Draco didn't really see eye to eye. Scorpius obviously wanted his father to think highly of him, but at the same time he seemed ready to give up. Despite the slow pace everything was moving at, Lily enjoyed every second spent in his presence. 

So when their next Friday night session arrived – they had had to cancel the last few weeks due to a large start-of-term workload – Lily was glad as ever to see him turn up outside her chamber. They wasted most of this session mucking around with each other, Lily attempting to improve his potion skills (or lack thereof). Every so often they'd tell a joke or story about their respective families. Scorpius seemed just as interested in her family as she was in his.

"Wait, _how long_ did he walk around with the headless hat before he realised?" asked Scorpius with a laugh.

"Oh, only about three hours, until he caught sight of his reflection and realised he had no head," she grinned. "Cousin Fred never let poor ol' James live it down… Damn, we're out of mandrake powder… hold on, I'll check the store room. You just keep stirring the potion like this, okay?" Scorpius nodded. However the moment she was out of the room, Scorpius went to her book case, where he pocketed a little black book. Scorpius decided he would impress Lily by doing some extra research for their little side-project, and guessed that whatever the book was, it would have something to do with potions.

Returning to the cauldron, he began stirring it as Lily had been doing until she left the room to rattle around in the supply cupboard. A minute later she returned with the ingredient. "Lucky, this is the last I have." Uncorking the vial, she poured the entire contents into the gooey mixture – with dire consequences. A noxious gas erupted from the cauldron, sending the two young Professors into a gagging fit.

"Scoripus, you – cough cough – didn't stop – cough – stirring, did you?" Lily managed to get out between coughs.

"Just for a – cough – second. Why?" asked Scorpius, before going into a spluttering fit.

Lily had got out her wand and with a couple of well-chosen words, both the potion and the gas had vanished. "Because you have to stir it continuously, otherwise you get – well, that."

"Oh," said Scorpius sheepishly. He was a bit red-faced, presumably because he was still recovering from his coughing fit rather than because he was embarrassed. "Sorry."

"It's all right. Let's just say it was a learning experience… I've learned that _you _are worse than Longbottom with a potion." she replied. Scorpius grinned at this, to which Lily grinned back. "You're going to be the death of me."

"Is it too late to start over again?" he asked, obviously not quite ready to leave.

"Afraid so… there's no more mandrake powder left. We'll have to continue this next Friday."

Scorpius nodded, clearly reluctant. "Right then… well, enjoy your weekend marking papers," he smirked, "I'm off."

"See you," Lily smiled as he left the classroom, before finding a cloth to wipe her hands. Clearing the mess with a few waves of her wand, Lily then went off to bed.

* * *

Previews 

Lily was uncomfortably reminded of being in the Headmaster's office, or being questioned by her parents. By now she had frozen like a deer in the headlights, trapped, and with no excuse to save her. There was nothing for it; she was going to have to tell the truth.

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"Well that's good, because… I like spending time with you too."

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**Disclaimer** - No, I do not own Harry Potter or any affiliated trademarks [and this makes me sad :(.

**Author's Note** - Not my favourite chapter, but I had a few plot points to introduce, so I apologise for that... speaking of apologising, you should see the previews for chapter five... they're pure evil - evil laughter - Just remember, the more reviews I get, the quicker I update. If for any reason you wish to torture yourself with the chapter five previews, just ask in a review and I'll send them to you. In other words, please review!


	4. An Artefact Returned

Lily Potter sighed, massaging her temples. It was late on Sunday night and she had spent much of the past two days marking homework, a tedious task broken by the occasional student knocking on her office door to ask for help with an assignment. A couple of her favourite students had come to visit as they sometimes did after classtime, to ask about more complicated potions, but she had been forced to push them. Although she always knew it wasn't going to be a walk in a park, teaching consumed more of her time than she'd first imagined. However it could be rather rewarding when she spoke to the most brilliant of her students, who had a genuine interest in the subject and would probably go onto careers in this field. They were the ones that made Potions worth teaching.

And there was another reason for Lily enjoying her job as a teacher, but she had scarcely seen Scorpius in the past couple of days, having not left her office except to go to the kitchen to get something to eat. Lily wondered for a second, what he was doing… was Scorpius enjoying his weekend, or was he, like her, cooped up in his office marking essays?

Lily didn't have to wait for long for her question to be answered. A knock on the door reached her ears at that very moment. "Come in," she called. With a frown, she gave the paper she was marking a 'T' for Troll, and was forced to wonder whether the student in question had been listening to anything she had said in the last week. The door opened to reveal the object of her affections; Scorpius. He looked somewhat… well, actually, she was finding it hard to read the expression on his face. It was either confused, or nervous, or maybe something else entirely…

"Uh, could I speak with you a minute, Lily?" he questioned.

Lily frowned in concern at this timid approach; was there something wrong? She rose from her chair and walked to the front of her desk, leaning on it as she answered. "Sure… about what?"

"About this." Scorpius held up a black notebook that caused the colour to drain from Lily's face. _Oh crap_, she thought to herself. Lily had been looking for that earlier this morning, and she had simply brushed it off when she couldn't find it.

The book he was holding was the one Lily had used to document the research into her little side project from the beginning. This included the effects of the ingredients she had tested before she had met Scorpius, and then told him she hadn't known about the results. Perhaps this would have been easier to cover up, were it not dated, described in detail, and written clearly in her handwriting. In other words, Scorpius would by now have realised that she had been lying to him for the past few weeks.

"Oh," said Lily, trying to sound surprised, as though she didn't already know what it was and its contents. Maybe this would stall him, as her mind raced at a million miles an hour, desperately seeking an excuse that Scorpius wouldn't see through. "Where did you find that?"

"I, er, well I thought I'd surprise you by doing some more research into our little potion, so I took a random book from your cupboard last time I was here… I kind of assumed they would all be about potions." Lily's stomach dropped. Of all the random books to take, he had to pick _that_ one. It wasn't like he'd read her personal diary or anything - thank goodness she kept it very well hidden - but it was just as incriminating. "Is there something you'd like to explain to me?"

Lily was uncomfortably reminded of being in the Headmaster's office, or being questioned by her parents. By now she had frozen like a deer in the headlights, trapped, and with no excuse to save her. There was nothing for it; she was going to have to tell the truth. She sighed. "Okay, here's the thing. All the ideas you came up with, I'd already assessed them as possibilities, and they failed. I'm sorry Scorpius, I didn't want to hurt you." Lily explained very quickly, hoping that what she was about to say next would make things better. If not, things between them were going to be very awkward from now on. Lily sighed again, speaking more slowly this time. "I didn't want to tell you that those ingredients were useless because… because I like spending time with you."

She stared at her feet, not daring to look up to see his reaction. Lily had basically confessed to having some stupid crush on him, even though they had only really known each other for a couple weeks. Still, Lily didn't know what she'd do if he rejected her…

When she finally got the courage to look up, Scorpius' expression was not, to her astonishment, one of disgust. In fact it was more like one of surprise, much like the moment he had learned her name. He had accepted her then, so did this mean he was attracted to her too?

"Oh," Scorpius said, not bothering to keep the relief from his voice. "I thought you were keeping a diary to give your family a laugh… you know, show them how pathetic that Malfoy boy is…" he reddened slightly. Lily had never thought that self-esteem was an issue for him, but perhaps Scorpius wasn't as confident as he appeared at first glance. Obviously not all of his family's genes had passed on to him.

Her face softened further. "I wouldn't do that. I'd have nothing to tell them; I don't think you're pathetic at all." Lily replied, still left in suspense. Did Scorpius like her back or not?

"Well that's good, because… I like spending time with you too." he admitted. This confession sent waves of relief crashing over Lily like an out-of-control car into the median strip. That was how ecstatic she felt to hear that her feelings were requited for once. Maybe her little crush wasn't so pathetic after all…

"So," she began, half quizzical, half casual. "Er, what now?"

Scorpius shrugged, casually placing his hands in his pockets. "I dunno… " Scorpius began. He moved a step closer to her, and Lily felt a slight blush creep up her cheeks. Scorpius was standing so close… "Well, I hear there's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up… maybe we could… I mean, if you-"

"Sure," Lily spared him the trouble of further stumbling on his words, though a second later she wished she hadn't; she wanted to hear him say it. But on the other hand he was already quite red, and quickly approaching the colour of her natural hair. Lily guessed that Scorpius didn't have much experience in the romance department. "I'd love to." she added.

Scorpius brightened noticeably. "Great… so wait, since I've been practically useless with your potion-" Lily moved to interject, but Scorpius held up a hand to stop her, "don't deny it, I almost gassed us to death, remember? Anyhow, since I suppose we'll be seeing each other a little bit more often now anyway, maybe we should stop our Friday nights? I don't want to end up poisoning you or something."

Lily grinned. "You really don't like Potions, do you? Well, I appreciated your enthusiasm, anyway."

Scorpius beamed. "Well, I'll see you at breakfast, tomorrow then?"

"Of course." Lily smiled.

With that familiar, adorable smile of his, Scorpius left the chamber, closing the door behind him. Lily let out a huge sigh, grinning from ear to ear. That had certainly had a much better impact than she had expected. Now, she was going on an official date with Scorpius! Giggling to herself with joy, Lily felt rather giddy. Although this was the end of their Friday nights together, Lily had a feeling it would be worth it.

* * *

Previews 

"Well, he never was my greatest fan." Scorpius muttered darkly. "But if that's the case, I'll have to keep my eye on you." he said with a smirk, placing an arm around her waist to draw her closer.

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"Well," said Lily, taking his right hand in her left and lacing her fingers with his. "You know what they say, right? The course of love never did run smooth."

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"Plus, I don't think you understood… I'm not taking no for an answer on this one," she replied firmly, but playfully.

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**Disclaimer** - Nope, last time I checked I didn't ow diddly squat. I'll check again later... 

**Authors' Note** - I'm so sorry this chapter took so long to post! I had it written ages ago but I've been having some issues with relatives and stuff lately. I also have exams at the moment, so updates might be few and far between for the next couple of weeks. That and I may be changing the plotline I had planned for the last few chapters. There's no way I'm giving up on this story though, so keep on reading and reviewing! Thank you guys so much, and I'm sorry to anyone whose review I didn't reply to, because I have a feeling I missed a couple last time.


	5. No Choice

When Scorpius had said there was a Hogsmeade weekend coming up, he hadn't meant in the next couple of weeks. Scorpius had meant in the next couple of _months_. This meant that for the months of October and November, the two young professors were little more than passing ships, exchanging awkward, bashful smiles every so often in the corridor. For a short while, Lily feared Scorpius was avoiding her, missing meals and such. Perhaps he had regretted asking her out, she thought, but she overheard a conversation between him and Flitwick that made her sure he was only bogged down in marking homework tasks. Nevertheless, even if things were awkward at the moment, it would get better once they had their actual date… then they'd be able to adjust to the idea of dating as well as working together.

The weather was slowly becoming colder as they inched toward Christmas time, the days moving agonisingly slowly. By the time their Hogsmeade weekend had arrived, fragile crystal snowflakes were falling, covering the small wizarding village. There was something crisp about the season, the air was more fresh; winter was Lily's favourite season. Lily and Scorpius had volunteered to chaperone the excursion, so they had an excuse to go without expressly admitting they were going on a date.

Putting on a snug black button-up coat over her casual clothes, thick socks, and a scarf, Lily arrived at the Hogwarts courtyard to find Professors Saunders and Longbottom, who would also be supervising the visit. Permission slips were handed to Neville, who was both Head of Gryffindor House and an old family friend of hers, and they set off, Lily and Scorpius bringing up the rear of the group. They greeted each other warmly, but before Scorpius had the chance to ask where she wanted to go first, he was interrupted by their older co-worker.

"Sorry to interrupt you, Lily, Scorpius," began Neville with a friendly smile, "But my fitness isn't what it used to be; Lily, would you mind leading the group white we bring up the rear?"

"Oh, sure," replied Lily with a nod. "Of course." She didn't really mind all that much, and Neville must have been at least 50 years old by now, since he was the same age as her own father. Lily gave Scorpius a small smile before making her way to the front of the group to lead with Professor Saunders. Saunders was somewhat attractive and relatively young, despite his prematurely greying hair, but he was nothing compared to Scorpius. Lily nodded every so often and smiled courteously as he tried to make polite conversation, but she was only half-listening; Lily was anticipating the moment when she could be alone with Scorpius.

Perhaps they'd have a Firewhiskey at The Three Broomsticks... or who knows, maybe she'd even cuddle up to him at The Shrieking Shack… Lily knew from some of her father's stories that the antique building wasn't really haunted; maybe she would impress Scorpius with her 'courage' by going inside. With all these possibilities running through her head, Lily barely heard Professor Saunders' ask her a question. "I hear they're trialling a new cocktail at The Three Broomsticks. Would you care to join me?"

"Oh," said Lily, going somewhat red. Tristan was a polite, cheerful man who also happened to be friends with his eldest brother, so she felt guilty that she would have to turn him down. Maybe she'd give him her cousin Rose's number to make up for it. "I'm sorry, I've already sort of-" she looked over her shoulder to Scorpius, who smiled at her while listening to Professor Longbottom jabbering on, "- erm, made plans."

Professor Tristan Saunders looked over his shoulder to see what Lily had been looking at, and obviously realised what was going on. "Oh, right. You two have fun then." he replied, obviously not minding that she had made other plans, though something in his voice told her that the temporary flying Professor wasn't all too fond of Scorpius. Both of them were silent for the rest of the journey; Lily felt distinctly awkward. She was quite relieved to reach Hogsmeade village and dismiss the students.

Professor Saunders walked off with Neville, while Scorpius and Lily stood casually examining street signs at opposite sides of the road for a few minutes, before determining that all the students had left and they weren't going to be spotted. Not that Lily really minded, but she had never really asked Scorpius about the issue, as she got the distinct feeling he would be rather shy about people knowing about them so early in their relationship.

Turning around to greet him with a smile where he was standing, a few metres away, she said, "Hi."

"Hey. I sure am glad that walk is over. Professor Longbottom was telling me about cross-breeding mandrake and mimbulus mimbletonia or something…" Scorpius laughed. "Next time _you_ walk with him."

Lily giggled. "So the plant will scream _and_ eject stinksap… how very charming," she joked, knowing Neville was passionate about Herbology. He had never managed to instil that interest in her (not for lack of trying), but Lily appreciated the enthusiasm. "Though perhaps walking with Tristan isn't the best idea. He sort of, er, asked me out before…" Lily was curious as to his reaction; was Scorpius the protective, possessive type? She knew that the two young men weren't exactly the greatest of friends. Apparently they'd had their problems when they were schoolmates, but Lily didn't really know all the details.

"Well, he never was my greatest fan." Scorpius muttered darkly. "But if that's the case, I'll have to keep my eye on you." he said with a smirk, placing an arm around her waist to draw her closer. However he seemed to deem this move too bold for a first date and, to Lily's disappointment, let go. Slightly red-faced, though perhaps just from the cold, he placed his hands in his pockets and cleared his throat. "Anyway, where do you want to go first?"

Lily bit her pale pink bottom lip, pondering her options. "How about The Shrieking Shack?"

Scorpius raised a quizzical eyebrow. "You really want to go there? Seen it once, seen it a million times, in my opinion." he quickly added, "But if you want to-"

"No, of course not," she said quickly, as though she had never suggested it in the first place. But this did mean that all her plans about cuddling up to him were out the window. "How about The Three Broomsticks? I hear they're trialling a new cocktail…"

"Do you think it's a good idea? I mean it's always so packed with students…"

Lily rolled her eyes, though a small part of her feared he didn't want to be seen with her. After all he was a Malfoy, and his pureblood friends would probably never let him live it down if they were to find he was dating a Potter. However, choosing to be optimistic, she decided he was more concerned about his pupils. "Do you really think any of them are going to care about their professors dating? They'll probably like the opportunity to gossip. Plus, it's not like we're doing anything wrong by being here together." she replied. Lily had a feeling Scorpius had been concerned about this, hence the awkwardness in their unplanned meetings in the corridors.

Scorpius nodded. "You're right… I'm sorry, I suppose I'm just paranoid something will go wrong." he admitted.

"Well," said Lily, taking his right hand in her left and lacing her fingers with his. "You know what they say, right? The course of love never did run smooth."

From then on, Scorpius seemed considerably more relaxed, although he couldn't hide the sweaty palms from her. They chatted merrily, joking on their way to The Three Broomsticks. As Scorpius predicted, it was crowded as always. But people were much too absorbed in their own conversations to pay them any attention. They took a seat in a vacant, corner booth where they would be able to talk more privately. "What'll it be then, butterbeer?" questioned Scorpius, standing to go to the bar.

"Let's live dangerously, eh? I'll have a Firewhiskey." Lily replied.

"I like the way you think, Potter," he grinned, making his way over to the bar and soon returning with two Firewhiskeys. Raising their bottles, they took the first sip. It was a particularly strong brew, the type that created a pleasant warming feeling, but Lily could tell she would only be able to handle two at the most.

"Do you have any plans for Christmas this year?" Lily asked, attempting to spark conversation. Plus, she did hope they would be able to spend some time together throughout the short break. "Are you spending it with your family?"

Scorpius shook his head. "No, I'll be spending Christmas at Hogwarts this year. Usually I'd go home, but mum warned me that grandfather is staying with us this year, so I decided to pass."

"Why? Don't you get along?" Lily questioned curiously, noticing the slight frown on his face; she got the feeling his family wasn't exactly tight-knit, but how could his grandfather be so horrible he'd rather spend Christmas on his own?

"Well, not really. I've never agreed with his values… they're so outdated. Grandfather doesn't understand that the world is a different place to the one he grew up in. In seventh year I told him he was living in the dark ages. He didn't take it too well... told me I was disgracing the family." Scorpius rolled his eyes. "I don't remember what I said exactly, only that I yelled that no one could disgrace our name than he already had. Ever since then I haven't been able to stand in the same room as him. But I was a disappointment to him way before that."

"Why?" Lily enquired, fascinated to hear more about his family. Of course she had heard negative things about the Malfoys from her family, but Lily was sure they exaggerated quite a bit. Especially the tale of the 'amazing bounding ferret'…

Scorpius shrugged. "I sort of thought being sorted into Slytherin would have been enough for him…" he paused. Lily now knew that he was a Slytherin, which was strange, as they always seemed to be so sure of themselves, overconfident even. Perhaps because of the scorn his family name had earned, Scorpius grew up with the humility his father never had. "But no, I had to be first in every single class as well. Of course I never managed it with that cousin Rosie of yours… I always topped the class in Charms and Transfiguration, but she beat me in everything else."

Lily grinned. "Yeah, good ol' Rosie… she always was the competitive one. She was so scared about the sorting, thought her dad would disown her if the hat put her in Ravenclaw or something… of course we both followed family tradition in the end, how boring. I had hoped to be the black sheep of the family," she joked.

Scorpius smiled. "Of course, you were in Gryffindor with your brothers. I remember how your whole family used to sit together…" he recalled. Lily got the strange feeling that he envied her large family, perhaps because he had been an only child. Having her brothers and all her cousins at school with her was fun at times, but at other times it got somewhat suffocating. She couldn't escape them, they knew all of her business and were always interfering with it, whether she wanted them to or not. She distinctly remembered her brothers scaring away quite a few boys, in what they called 'her best interest' when she tried to hex them.

"A Slytherin and a Gryffindor… we make quite the odd pair, don't we?"

The pair laughed at this; obviously they were past caring about what their families thought. _Family_. Lily's eyes brightened as this gave her an idea. "I've just had a brilliant thought! What about you spend Christmas with me and my family? We have a spare room and everything. Then you won't have to be alone, and I can see you on Christmas day!"

His expression was, as she predicted, questioning, and less than willing to jump at the idea. "I don't think that's a very good idea… the Weasleys and the Malfoys don't exactly have a good relationship. I mean our grandfathers got into a fight in Flourish and Blotts… your _mum_ put a bat-bogey hex on my dad… your grandmother _killed_ my great aunt, and the list goes on, believe me. And I know for dead certain that your brother James loathes my guts. It can only end in disaster… just leave it a while. I mean, it's only our first date and I don't want to rush things. I don't want your family to hate me…" Scorpius voiced his concerns, but Lily shook her head. After all, what was the worst that could happen?

"They won't hate you, I promise. Plus, I don't think you understood… I'm not taking no for an answer on this one," she replied firmly, but playfully, her parents' stubbornness showing through. "I'll send an owl to my parents this evening, and if you don't turn up they'll think you're rude."

Scorpius snorted. "Well... I really don't think it's a good idea, but I don't have any choice in the matter, do I?"

Lily shook her head, grinning. "Nope, you don't. Come on, show some guts,_ Slytherin_."

With a smile and a laugh at this comment, Scorpius took a sip of his Firewhiskey.

* * *

Previews

Lily shook her head at her uncle's question. "No, they're all really nice. Actually that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about." she set her cup and saucer down on the table. "See there's this Professor – a guy-" 

"A guy? In that case Ronald should leave the room. He's hopeless at this sort of stuff, hasn't got a romantic bone in his entire body."

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He had taken the wrong moment to sip from his tea, and sent a spray flying over the mahogany coffee table. "WHAT?!"

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**Disclaimer**: Don't own HP yadda-yadda.

**Author's Note**: Sorry it took so long to update, I've been super-busy with school and work and friends. I've also redone the next few chapters, because I think I skipped over the line of unconventionality and implausibility… but I'm happy with it now. Thankyou to everyone who's reading this, please drop a little review for me if you're feeling generous :)


	6. Relatively Painless

That evening, Lily sent an owl to her parents asking whether it would be alright for her to bring someone along for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, because he had no one else to spend the day with. Her mother Ginny replied with a profound yes, of course, and had also had the tact not to question Lily about whom she was bringing. In fact, her mother seemed positively ecstatic about her bringing a boyfriend around, as Lily was usually very secretive about this type of thing. However when Lily received the reply, she began to feel a little bit of panic; she hadn't really thought through all the possibilities, nor had she remembered the fact that her uncle Ron was firmly against the Malfoys. There was an intrinsic dislike between the two houses, and Lily knew very well how stubborn the Weasley side of the family was. In conclusion, Lily decided there was only one thing for it. She would seek advice from the brightest woman she had ever known, a close relative of hers; her aunt Hermione.

It wasn't too late in the afternoon, and she had always been close to her aunt and uncle; they enjoyed her company and she had always loves listening to their war stories. Plus, she could find out how Rose and Hugo were going with their respective jobs. First of all, though, she sent an owl to make sure it was alright to visit, in case she would be interrupting anything. Her aunt replied promptly, welcoming her.

Grabbing a handful of floor powder, Lily cast it into the fire, which turned a brilliant emerald as she stepped into it and shouted her destination. After the familiar but still unpleasant feeling of travelling by floo powder had ended, she looked around to take in the familiar setting of the Weasley living room. Hermione and Ron had been like her second parents; she always turned to them when there was a question she couldn't ask her own parents.

Taking a step forward into the room, she sung out to her relatives. "Hello? Anyone home?"

Footsteps from in the kitchen alerted her that she was not alone, and her aunt Hermione soon joined her. "I thought I heard you arrive," said her aunt, beaming.

Lily walked over to give her aunt a hug. "Hi aunt Hermione, how are you?" she asked, smiling.

"Quite well, now that you mention it. You remember that fair treatment for house elves bill? It's very close to being passed. I knew the Ministry would eventually see reason, and it's a lot easier now some of the older members of the Wizengamot have retired. How about you? How is your first term of teaching going? Have a seat dear, I'll put the kettle on." replied Hermione. Lily was forcibly reminded of many family dinners where her mother asked how her fight for house-elves was going, to which her aunt always had an impassioned response. Her uncle Ron however, was less enthusiastic, and always signalled for Ginny to stop before she had asked the whole question. In fact Lily sometimes got the impression the only reason her mother asked was to tease her uncle.

Lily took a seat while her aunt bustled around in the kitchen. "It's been relatively painless so far, aside from my second year class. They're feral. And that Colin Longbottom has managed to destroy a cauldron and nearly blow up the whole classroom…"

Hermione chuckled from within the kitchen. "Sounds exactly like his father. I used to whisper instructions to him under my breath, but Professor Snape always caught me. How is old Neville anyway?"

"Fine. Breeding mandrakes and mimbulus mimbletonia, too, I might add." Lily replied, grinning and snickering from the kitchen reached her ears, and Hermione returned with two cups of tea. Lily heard footsteps from the stairs and they were momentarily joined by her uncle Ron.

"Ah, I thought I heard voices. How's my favourite niece? Here, let me get a look at you," Lily grinned as her favourite uncle walked over, bending to eye level to get a better look at her, in the exact same way he had always done since she was child. "Growing more beautiful by the day isn't she?" he commented to Hermione, who smiled back. "Though still hiding that bright Weasley hair. How's that job of yours going? Those other Professors better not be giving you a hard time for being the youngest. They aren't, are they?"

Her uncle Ron eyed their two cups of tea, and then looked to Hermione. Before he could open his mouth to ask, she replied, "Kitchen."

Lily shook her head at her uncle's question. "No, they're all really nice. Actually that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about." she set her cup and saucer down on the table. "See there's this Professor – a guy-"

"A guy? In that case Ronald should leave the room. He's hopeless at this sort of stuff, hasn't got a romantic bone in his entire body." Hermione said with a sideways look at her husband.

"I'm not hopeless!" Ron retorted defensively. "Well, I was at the start, but I caught on eventually, didn't I? And I handled Rose's last boyfriend just fine, too. Go on," he nodded to his niece.

"Well, I've invited him over for Christmas, and-"

"How about we start with the basics, dear?" asked Hermione kindly. "Tell us a little about him… what's his name?"

Lily sighed. "Well, that's precisely the thing," Her haze turned to her uncle Ron; if he could handle her dating a Malfoy, anyone could. "His name is… he's… Scorpius Malfoy."

Ron's reaction was immediate. He had taken the wrong moment to sip from his tea, and sent a spray flying over the mahogany coffee table. "WHAT?!" he bellowed.

"Ronald, calm _down_!" snapped Hermione as her husband rose from his chair.

"Calm down? Calm down?!" he rounded on Hermione. "A Malfoy at our table for Christmas? No way! Not now, not ever! Blimey, Hermione, have you forgotten Draco Malfoy? No way. Even if it's not our house, I don't care!" he fumed.

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Lily had already begun in a small voice. "Oh… I'm sorry. Never mind… I'll… I'll just," her voice cracked as tears stung at her eyes and she stepped toward the fireplace, her head bowed low; she didn't want her aunt and uncle to see her cry. She hadn't expected this reaction; the war had been so long ago, how could Ron still be so angry? This was worse than she had imagined; not only was she going to have to tell Scorpius that he couldn't come over for Christmas, but now her favourite uncle was furious at her. Lily had never heard uncle Ron yell like that before…

"No! Lily, please don't leave," said Hermione gently, walking over to her niece and placing a comforting arm around her shoulder, steering her back into the living room. "Ron, come here!" she ordered sternly. Ron looked mutinous, but obeyed all the same. Hermione sat Lily down on the lounge next to her, then placed Ron on her other side by forcefully pushing his shoulders down. Her voice reverted to gentle and kind, an arm still around Lily's shoulders. "Now, tell your uncle how much this means to you."

Lily paused. She couldn't bear to look at her uncle or she knew she'd start crying. Did he hate her for ignoring all his advice, everything he had ever told her about the Malfoys? "He's… he's nothing like his father, I promise… he's smart, and kind, and…" she trailed off, wiping her eyes of the tears that had formed but not fallen. She gathered the courage to look into his eyes. "and I really like him. Please, just give him a chance Uncle Ron; _please_… he's really great, I promise."

His face softened slightly as he considered her. Evidently he still didn't like the idea of Scorpius being at dinner with them, but he couldn't ignore such a heartfelt plea. "Well, if it means that much to you… I suppose I can give him a chance."

As soon as he uttered these words Lily flung her arms around him, almost crying with happiness. "Thank you, thank you so much!" Parting from their hug, she turned to hug her Aunt Hermione in thanks.

"We're going to dinner with your parents tomorrow night, if you'd like us to tell them. Honestly, I don't think they'll mind," offered Hermione.

Lily nodded profusely. "That would be wonderful! Thankyou so much," Lily replied, beaming with happiness at the brightest witch she had ever known, hugging her aunt once again in gratitude.

"Well, I suppose you've got better things to do than hang around here all evening, dear. Do you have papers to mark?" asked Hermione.

Lily nodded, considerably cheerier than before. "Yes, I suppose I'd better get going," she stood and walked over to the fireplace accompanied by her favourite relatives. With one last hug from each of them she said, "It was lovely to see you. Give my love to Rose and Hugo. Thank you so much," Ron and Hermione nodded, and with a last smile and a burst of emerald flame, she was gone.

* * *

Previews

With everything that she had told him throughout the past few days, Lily felt as though she should be writing a book, '1001 Tips on How to Survive Christmas Dinner With the Potter-Weasley Family.'

XXXXXXXX

At the moment they seemed, perhaps, more childlike than the students seated along the table, who were staring in bewilderment at their Professors.

XXXXXXXX

"What do you mean the cards _don't_ explode? What's the point in that? There's no _risk_. That's what makes the game fun."

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I trust you have the point by now?

**Author's Note**: I'm so glad I was able to upload this chapter. For about a week I was convinced I'd lost all my documents; I'm so glad I haven't! Anyway, Rose/Scorpius is the best pairing when it comes to raising Ron's blood pressure, but I just had to write a blow-up scene even though she's not his daughter. Constructive criticism or suggestions welcome.


	7. A Strange Notion

"Scorpius Malfoy?" Ginny repeated incredulously.

Ron nodded grimly across the dinner table at his younger sister, while his best friend, Harry, appeared to be digesting this revelation.

"_Our_ Lily, and Scorpius Malfoy?" Ginny clarified, her brow creased into a frown, more questioning than disapproving. She seemed quite sure that Ron was just having her on in this one.

"See, 'Mione, told you she wouldn't allow it." said Ron with a victorious yet nonchalant expression, ignoring the look he garnered from his wife in response.

"No, it's not that," replied Ginny, a slight frown of concern visible on her aging but still striking features. "After all, Lily is old enough to make her own choices, and she has always known how to take care of herself. It's just that it seems so sudden… she didn't mention the fact that she was dating _anybody,_ in any of her letters. Maybe she was scared of what we'd think… dear, I just hope she knows what she's doing…I've never met the boy before. Have either of you heard anything about him?"

Hermione nodded. "Nothing bad. After she came to us yesterday I sent an owl to Neville… he seems to like him, and he's been working with him for a few years. Rosie mentioned him beating her in Charms and Transfiguration, but she didn't seem to have any problems with him. And Lily really does like him. Has Albus ever said anything?"

Ginny shook her head. "Nothing, aside from the fact that he was a Slytherin." Her shoulders relaxed slightly; any concern she may have had seemed to have lessened. The hurts the Malfoy family had inflicted on their own during the war could never be erased, but it would be wrong for them to judge Scorpius' personality and intentions before even meeting him. "I don't really have a problem with it, to be honest… I'm just shocked. What do you think, dear?"

Harry had been somewhat silent throughout the conversation so far, but now he was forced to voice his opinion. He sighed slightly, disappointed that his daughter had not told them this herself. Of course he would support his daughter no matter what, but Harry liked to hear things from the source. "Lily's a smart girl, and she's always been a good judge of character… I trust her decision. We'll give him a chance, but keep an eye on him too." he replied. Ginny and Hermione nodded, obviously satisfied with this. Ron looked less pleased, but at any rate, he was going to have to give the young Malfoy a chance.

* * *

"What should I get your family for Christmas?" Scorpius asked at breakfast the next day, eating a forkful of scrambled egg. Tomorrow he would be meeting Lily's family for the first time, and he was as nervous as anything. 

"Nothing, there'll be a million of us and only one of you. It would hardly be fair," replied Lily. She could tell that secretly, under all the nervousness, Scorpius was looking forward to Christmas with her and her family. Mostly because he spent every second of the day bringing it up. Absently, Lily wondered how many previous Christmases the poor guy had spent alone…

"But I can't turn up empty-handed, that would be rude. And they probably think I invited myself over already…"

Lily rolled her eyes, a smile playing across her face. It was adorable how he kept worrying about what her family would think of him; it meant that she really did mean something to him. "They don't think that, trust me. They know it was my idea. Look, if you're so worried about what to bring, just get a bottle of mead or something…"

"That's a good idea… so you're _sure_ they're fine with me staying over and everything?" he questioned. Once again he was seeking her reassurance.

Lily laughed, "Yes, I've told you a million times, it's all organised. Stop stressing, they're going to love you." She placed a hand on his, giving it an encouraging squeeze before returning to her orange juice.

"Well, if you say so…"

The Hogwarts Great Hall was mostly empty; only a few students had decided to remain behind during the Christmas holidays. As teachers they were required to stay behind until Christmas Eve morning, which was tomorrow, if they decided to leave at all. Tonight at dinner they would be having early celebrations as more of the staff than usual would be returning to their homes to spend Christmas with their families. There were no classes today, nor had there been all week, and it was likely today would be spent in the same way as the others, sitting in her office addressing Scorpius' worries. After spending the last few days drawing a diagram of her house and telling him what not to say, today would be utilised to further educate Scorpius on the members of her family and their interests. This way he would have a few topics for conversation up his sleeve.

"Now, mum didn't say if he's coming this year, but if he does, you should be alright with Uncle Percy," Lily had said when she began the lessons the previous day, indicating a picture in their family tree, "just mention something about the Ministry and he'll waffle on for ages. You won't need to think of what to say, because you won't get a chance to give your opinion anyway… unless you want a grand debate. It's best just to agree with him and look interested." With everything that she had told him throughout the past few days, Lily felt as though she should be writing a book, '_1001 Tips on How to Survive Christmas Dinner With the Potter-Weasley Family._' "Uncle Fred can smell fear, so feign confidence. He owns a joke shop, so although he's more innocent-_looking_ than he was in school, I wouldn't put it past him to play a prank at Christmas; just keep your eyes open."

Later that evening they sat laughing before her office fire, discussing the seating plan she had drawn up, as her mother had allowed her to organise that this year. "So, I was thinking I should put you next to James… what do you think?"

"Er, actually I don't think that would be the greatest idea… I told you he hates me, right?" replied Scorpius, scratching his neck.

"Right, forgot. Where to put you, then…"

"How about next to your brother Albus?" suggested Scorpius. "We were in the same year, and we both played Quidditch."

"Hmmm, I don't know about that one… perhaps I should keep you away from the males in my family. Just in case any of them decide to be 'protective'. How about Rose?"

Scorpius nodded. "That sounds alright… if she hates me I'm not aware of it."

"Great. Rose can be on your left, I'll be on your right. And Hugo can be on my right." she settled it, crossing out the names that had been there previously and replacing them with their revised seats. "That ought to do it." Luckily Christmas was being held at their house this year, so Lily was more familiar with the settings and would be able to show Scorpius around. "Are you feeling confident?" Lily questioned, propping herself up from the ground to go to dinner in the Great Hall.

"Are you sure you want me to answer that question?" Scorpius replied, rolling over onto his back.

Lily smiled, getting to her feet and jabbed him in the chest. "Come on." She bent down and grabbed his hand, pulling him up off the stone floor.

* * *

By the time they had reached the hall the feast was just beginning. Greeted by merry professors, the four house tables had vanished, replaced by a larger one with two vacant seats for them at the very end of the right hand side. 

Their spirits heightened by the holiday season, they indulged in stupid jokes, good food, good company and perhaps a bit _too_ much mulled mead. Over the last couple of weeks they had spent most of their free time getting to know one another better. He was markedly more relaxed around her now, which was clear as he kept his arm around her on the way to the Hall. Now they didn't really care if the students knew about their relationship, because the other Professors certainly knew. They no longer had to worry if anyone knew.

As a consequence they spent most of the feast mucking around; Scorpius, in a romantic gesture, had taken a toothpick and transfigured it into a red rose, which he then gave to Lily. At this, she was forced to concede that perhaps Transfiguration _did_ have its merits… However her reaction was somewhat different when he transfigured her glass of mead into pumpkin juice, her least favourite drink, while she wasn't looking. Lily slapped him playfully, and proceeded to try to mess up his hair while he raised an arm to defend himself. Scorpius then decided to take the offensive, picking up a bread roll to throw at her. It hit her directly in the forehead and the pair erupted into a fit of giggles. At the moment they seemed, perhaps, more childlike than the students seated along the table, who were staring in bewilderment at their Professors. But the two of them were having too much fun to care about the looks they were receiving.

"Hey, look, Christmas crackers!" noticed Lily, reaching forward to pick up the brightly coloured Christmas cracker. She turned to Scorpius, holding it forward for him to grab the other end. "Gryffindor and Slytherin colours, even." She grinned.

There was a puff of thick, acrid green smoke and Scorpius was left holding the longer end, and a far-too-small muggle fireman's hat. He looked at it with a bemused expression before shrugging and putting it on Lily's head with a grin. One of the white mice from the cracker had crawled onto Lily's hand in its quest to make it to the leftovers on her plate, but Lily moved her hand and the mouse sunk its teeth in, desperate to hold on as she reached for her glass. "Ouch," she cried in surprise, realising there was a small white mouse hanging from her hand. Apparently realising it was nearer to its target, the mouse dropped off and Lily brought her hand closer to examine it. It didn't break the skin, it just stung a little.

She nudged Scorpius, who was finishing off a piece of chicken. "Did you see that?" Since his mouth was still full of food, Scorpius found it more polite to shake his head than to open his mouth. "It bit me, look." Lily showed him the red welt developing as he wiped his mouth with a serviette.

Scorpius snickered. "Aww, do you want me to kiss it better?" he mocked, a smirk on his face.

"Yes," Lily smirked back, holding her hand out imperiously, as a queen would to a royal subject. Scorpius shrugged. He kissed her hand but didn't stop there. He trailed light, playful butterfly kisses up her arm and all the way to her cheek, making Lily giggle and garnering attention from across the table.

Neville Longbottom, noticing the interaction between his young co-workers, nudged McGonagall on his right. "Take a look at that, will you," he indicated the couple, as Lily leaned forward and softly grazed her nose against Scorpius'. "Still seems a little strange, the notion of a Potter and a Malfoy." Neville commented with a crooked smile.

"I've seen stranger things in my day," she began, "But I, for one, hope it works. Though I will have to send them both home if they continue acting like this." Both older Professors laughed.

* * *

Later in the night it was time to return to Lily's quarters and continue preparations for the rapidly-approaching Christmas Eve. Lily and Scorpius walked back laughing and joking, holding hands until Lily commented on how sweaty his were. At this point he disappointed her by letting go, but thankfully a second later he placed an arm around her waist to pull her closer. Lily smiled in elation, restraining a giggle as he leaned over to plant a soft kiss on her cheek as they walked. A wave of her wand opened the door to her office and they stepped inside. Two further flicks conjured a fire and a blanket so they could sit comfortably. 

Immediately Scorpius stretched out on his stomach, propping his head up on his elbow. With the other arm he gestured for her to join him, making himself quite at home while she searched the room for the list of things to cover, from which they had been working from for the past couple of days. Eventually getting frustrated, she used a summoning charm to find that it was buried in a pile on her desk. Looking down at the list, she felt she could satisfactorily cross off every last point. "Well, it seems we've covered everyone in the family… any questions?"

Scorpius nodded. "Yeah, how long until D-day?"

Lily rolled her eyes, lightly slapping him on the arm, but checking her watch nonetheless. "Well, it's a quarter to twelve, so-"

"Whoa, it's really that late? I should be getting some sleep…" Scorpius stood up but Lily moved to stop him.

"Wait!" she jumped up and went to her desk, opening a drawer and retrieving a deck of cards. "Why don't we play a game?"

Scorpius arched an eyebrow. "Exploding snap at this time of night? We'll wake up the whole castle."

Lily shook her head. "No, not exploding snap. Muggle snap. We play it every year at Christmas, it's a sort of a tradition my grandfather began… he loves muggle games and stuff, so my aunt and my dad taught him to play…" she explained. In fact, Lily wondered if he would be disappointed that she was dating a pureblood, and a Malfoy at that. He would have dearly loved a muggle grandson-in-law to talk about all the wacky muggle devices he tinkered with. "Do you want to learn?"

"Well, if it's family tradition… explain it to me."

Lily found it unusually difficult to teach Scorpius to play. Even teaching Uncle Percy wasn't this hard… Scorpius just couldn't grasp the concept of the game ("What do you mean the cards _don't_ explode? What's the point in that? There's no _risk_. That's what makes the game fun."). He couldn't understand why anyone would play a game without the possibility of losing their eyebrows. However once he understood how to play he became quite good at it. His reflexes were slightly quicker than Lily's, but she managed to win the odd few matches. Chuckling at various jokes and stories as they swapped them, the two continued to play card games into the early morning, until at last they fell asleep on the blanket.

* * *

Previews 

"He should be on his way now. If he isn't here in a few minutes it probably means I'll have to go back and _drag_ him here,"

XXXXX

"Scorpius, nice to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you. None of it from Lily, but good all the same."

XXXX

As soon as Lily said 'Scorpius', Teddy's icy-blue eyes darted to the tall blonde wizard standing nervously at her side. He arched an eyebrow. "Scorpius, eh? Carrying on the family tradition with that name, aren't you?"

Lily thought his tone was somewhat icy, which was altogether uncharacteristic of Teddy.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: You know what, I may have to introduce a non-canon just so I can actually own something. 

**Author's Note**: I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. It may be a while before chapter 8 (in which Lily gets herself in trouble with Scorpius :p) is up. It's a lot longer than the previous ones, and isn't even finshed yet! Reviews, however, may encourage me to write faster ;)


	8. Common Ground

Lily woke up cold and uncomfortable on Christmas Eve, having fallen asleep on the floor of her office with only a thin blanket separating her from the cold stone. Yawning slightly, she glanced over to where Scorpius had fallen asleep next to her.

He was snoring quietly, a hint of what Lily thought could have been a frown on his face. He looked so adorable; she could have watched him like that all day, but at the same time she wanted to wake him up. She wanted to talk to him, make him smile, wanted to get that frown off his face. Lily bit her lip lightly, wondering if he was a morning person or not; her brother James always yelled at her when she woke him up. Though now she came to think of it, that was because when she was a child she tended to go flying into the room at a hundred miles an hour, yelling loudly for him to wake up and jumping on his bed (while he was still in it, nonetheless). At last, she rubbed his back gently. "Scorpius… Scorpius, wake up." Lily said softly into his ear, running a hand gently through his hair.

Scorpius opened his eyes, rubbed them lightly and propped himself up on his elbows, blinking bewilderedly as he gazed around to gather his bearings. He seemed to realise where he was when he caught sight of Lily, and gave her a smile of relief. "Thank goodness, just a dream. I had a nightmare that your dad was yelling at me, and he just kept on getting taller while I kept on shrinking… then I turned into a Christmas beetle and you stepped on me." said Scorpius with a cringe.

Lily laughed at his story, though he was obviously sufficiently worried that his fears had leaked into his subconscious and he was having nightmares. "Somehow I don't think you'll have to worry about that. My dad isn't all that tall. Unless…" she teased with a grin, "unless you're secretly a beetle animagus. Well, are you?" She jabbed him in the side, to which he laughed, trying to avoid her as she attempted to poke him more.

"I suppose I'm just being stupid." he admitted, scratching the back of his neck somewhat nervously. "What time are we leaving?"

"Just as soon as we both get showered, dressed and get our stuff together. Whoa, just look at the bags under our eyes… oh well, a little charm will fix that. Better do that now, in case we forget. It's 11 o' clock, so how about we meet back here in an hour?"

Scorpius nodded in reply. "Sounds good to me. See you then."

An hour later, Lily had showered, applied a little make-up and got dressed, packing a bag with all the things she would need for the next two days. Charming her raven-coloured hair into wavy locks, she checked her watch, only to hear a knock on the door at precisely 12 o' clock. That Scorpius certainly was a stickler for punctuality. Lily opened the door with a grin to find him scratching his neck, a gesture she had gathered to mean that he was nervous. "Ready?" she questioned brightly.

"As I'll ever be." he said grimly, sighing.

She couldn't help but giggle at his expression. "They won't like you very much if you look like you've just been handed a dementors' kiss sentence." she said playfully. Lily grabbed his hand, squeezing it comfortingly before dragging him into the office with her. He only had a small bag, she noticed, and his robes were nice, not quite formal yet not exactly casual either. "Don't worry, you'll be fine." she reassured him, standing on tiptoe to give him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll go first, alright? The address is Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Okay?"

He nodded in response, and Lily grabbed a handful of floo powder, shouting the address before disappearing in a whirr of emerald flame.

She reappeared in the living room fireplace of Grimmauld Place shortly after, slightly dizzy. Brushing some ash from her hair, Lily was ambushed with a bone-crunching hug the moment she stepped out of the fireplace. "Lily, dear, it's wonderful to see you," said her mother, as Lily hugged her tightly in return.

"Harry Christmas, mum," said Lily, stepping back as her mother allowed her to breathe.

"Now, where is he?" her mother enquired of Scorpius as Lily observed the empty room in front of her, wondering where everyone was. "They're all in the backyard." Ginny said, apparently gathering what was on her daughter's mind by the searching look on her face.

"He should be on his way now. If he isn't here in a few minutes it probably means I'll have to go back and _drag_ him here," she joked, smiling brightly.

"Ginny, I found the firewhi – Lily! You're here." her father walked down the stairs, a bottle of Firewhiskey in his hand and a smile on his face. "Come and give me a hug."

Lily sauntered over to her father, whose embrace was much less stifling than her mother's. There was the clink of firewhiskey bottles as his arms closed around her. "Happy Christmas, dad!"

"How's my little girl?" Harry questioned, exacting the usual eye roll from his daughter.

"Well I don't know about your little girl, but I'm well." Lily replied cheekily, grinning.

"Of course, how could I forget." he grinned in return. "Speaking of you growing up, where's this boyfriend of yours exactly?"

Lily's expression became more serious at the thought of Scorpius. "He's on his way. You will go easy on him, won't you? He's very nervous, and-"

Before she had the chance to finish, there was a roaring of green flame from the fireplace and a spluttering sound Scorpius lowered his head to peer out of the fireplace. "Uh, hi-" he began, before going into a coughing fit from swallowing some ash.

Lily smiled widely and went to his side, patting him firmly on the back to stop him coughing. "Glad you could make it," she said with a grin, taking his arm in hers and leading him across the room to where her parents were standing. "Scorpius, this is my mum and dad."

Scorpius looked paler than usual, though he was smiling as her mother stepped forward to greet him. "Hello. Pleased to meet you, Mrs Potter." he said, doing quite a good job of concealing his nerves in Lily's opinion.

"Nice to meet you too, Scorpius. There's no need to stand on a ceremony, please, call me Ginny." she replied, smiling warmly at the nervous wizard who looked somewhat relieved, smiling in return. This time her father stepped forward.

"Scorpius, nice to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you. None of it from Lily, but good all the same."

As Scorpius opened his mouth, Lily interjected, "Don't worry about him, he's _trying_ to be funny." She rolled her eyes with this.

Scorpius laughed lightly. "Nice to meet you too, Mr Potter." he replied. Suddenly, he seemed to remember the bottle of mulled mead that he had brought as a sort of gift. Or perhaps it was acceptance bribery. Either way, Scorpius would have felt awkward turning up empty-handed. "Oh, I brought this… I hope it's alright."

"It's perfect. Why don't you follow us through to the yard, dear?" Her mother gestured toward the door.

Harry and Ginny set off toward the back yard, leaving Lily and Scorpius momentarily alone. "See, I told you they wouldn't hate you. Everything's going to be fine," she said softly, lacing her fingers with his, which happened to be ice cold with nerves.

Scorpius sighed. "But it's not over yet…"

"Don't be such a pessimist." she said with a grin, elbowing him in the side. "Now follow me to the yard before they send a search party."

* * *

As she exited the house, Lily observed that her family had done a good job of decorating the garden. The grass was verdant and healthy-looking, especially compared to the parched yellow it had been earlier that year during the bone dry summer. Bright flowers were blooming, vibrant reds, purples and yellows. There was a canvas set up to protect the long table in case of rain, and there seemed to be an artificial lighting that looked suspiciously like petrified fairies, but it was unlikely her aunt Hermione would have stood for such cruelty to creatures. Last time they had used this type of decoration her aunt had gone out and bought Christmas lights that would run on electricity. Her father never managed to make Lily understand the principle of electricity, but she did know her grandfather was obsessed with it. 

As soon as she stepped out the door she heard a bright voice call her name, and her favourite cousin Rose rushed over to greet them. "Lily, it's so good to finally see you!" said Rose, a smile etched into her features as she gave Lily a hug. Rose stepped back and looked her shorter cousin over before allowing her gaze to roam to Scorpius. Lily felt anxious for a second, hoping they hadn't had any problems with each other at school. Lily was rather surprised but still immensely relieved as Rose smiled warmly at him. "Lovely to see you again, Scorpius. How's the teaching position going?"

"Good to see you again, too. It's surprisingly good, actually. I never dreamed of ending up back there once we'd finished. How's it feel to be St. Mungo's one and only Potions Specialist?" he questioned with genuine interest. "The Daily Prophet said it was the first position of its kind." Lily decided that they must have been acquaintances during school, considering the casual, friendly way they spoke to each other. Probably rivals too, considering Rose's competitive streak.

"It can be stressful at times. There was a huge outbreak of Dragonpox recently, verging on becoming a pandemic… but working with the kids makes all the troubles worth it. And they're hiring some junior Potions Specialists in the new year, from what I've heard, so I'll be training them all. I was going to ask you if you were interested, Lily, but aunt Ginny said you were really happy at Hogwarts." she replied with a smile. Lily had always known that her cousin Rose would go on to do something to help people, it was in her blood, both their blood. Although it didn't seem like it when she was talking so nonchalantly, the red-headed witch could be just as passionate about helping beings - human or not - as her mother. "Have you managed to improve _your_ Potions at all?" Rose joked, turning her attention to Scorpius.

Lily and Scorpius exchanged grins before he answered this one. "Not at all. And not for lack of the best teacher in the world, either." he replied.

Lily hit him playfully on the arm, rolling her eyes before she looked to her cousin Rose. "He's just saying that because he knows flattery will get him everywhere."

Rose and Lily giggled at this, while Scorpius grinned.

"Anyway, I better leave you to get the awkward meet-and-greets over with. I'm sure you're anxious to get it over with," she laughed. "We'll all have plenty of time to chat later." She smiled at both of them once more before taking her seat.

Lily was relieved that they definitely weren't the last to arrive; her cousins Hugo and Rose, her Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron, her brothers, her Uncle Percy and muggle Aunt Audrey, cousins Lucy and Molly, 'brother' Teddy and Victoire were all present, but everyone else was absent for the time being. At least this would give her a chance to introduce Scorpius to everyone without him being too overwhelmed at the sheer number of them. But the absence of so many members of their family didn't make it any easier to choose who she would go to first.

She was tempted to introduce him to her brothers and cousins first. Hugo was generally accepting and easy-going, and Scorpius hadn't said anything about having altercations with Albus. But they were talking animatedly to James, who Scorpius said had 'loathed his guts'. Lily bit her lip indecisively. Her Uncle Ron and Hermione were at the other end of the table with her parents, but she thought it may be best to introduce him to Uncle Ron once he had had some food, which seemed to pacify him.

If she introduced him to Percy they wouldn't be able to escape for about three hours. Lucy and Molly were notorious gossips; they seemed deep in conversation at the moment, and Lily knew how much they hated being interrupted. There was also her cousin-in-law, Teddy, whose side of the Black family had a particularly nasty history with Scorpius', including his great Aunt Bellatrix being responsible for the death of Teddy's mother. Lily didn't think Teddy would hold it against Scorpius, but the boy was unpredictable and she didn't want them to get along badly like their grandmothers.

Taking a gulp as she scanned the group, she was beginning to realise what an uphill battle this was going to be. Almost every single group in her family had some sort of conflict with his. Why couldn't it just be easy, why couldn't they just know what a wonderful person he was, like Lily did? Scorpius was looking at her curiously, unaware of her internal battle, as though asking what was wrong or what was he to do next. Lily finally decided that Teddy was probably the safest bet, as he was generally pacifist in nature. He even joked about being the hippy of the family.

Smiling at him reassuringly, she led Scorpius to Teddy as Victoire turned to talk to Albus. "Hey Teddy!" Lily said brightly, hugging him tightly where he sat.

"Hello, Lily, how's things?" asked Teddy, his hair a jet black that fit in perfectly with the Potter side of the family.

"Great! It's so good to see you and Vic, it's been far, _far_ too long between visits. I bet I've missed out on so much stuff... Speaking of catching up on things, there's someone I'd like you to meet. Teddy, this is Scorpius." she replied, hiding the apprehensiveness as she looked from one to the other.

As soon as Lily said 'Scorpius', Teddy's icy-blue eyes darted to the tall blonde wizard standing nervously at her side. He arched an eyebrow. "Scorpius, eh? Carrying on the family tradition with that name, aren't you?"

Lily thought his tone was somewhat icy, which was altogether uncharacteristic of Teddy. She bit her lip nervously, hoping Scorpius would take it in his stride.

Scorpius wasn't quite sure what he'd done to receive such a cold reception from Teddy, not that he had been expecting a party in his honour or anything. He would just have to do the best he could. "Er, yeah, it's a stupid tradition, I know. My family has lots of those... but hopefully they'll die with me." he replied awkwardly, obviously not quite sure what he was meant to say.

Not expressing his feelings one way or another, Teddy picked up his bottle of Firewhiskey and changed his hair to a bright orange fitting of the Weasley family, possibly to make Scorpius feel even more of an outcast.

Obviously, Scorpius didn't see it that way. "Oh, do you use hair Potion like Lily?" Scorpius enquired casually, a question that he felt wasn't all that odd. He didn't feel deserving of the look Teddy gave Lily that said 'Is he for real?'

"I'm a metamorphmagus," he replied, under the fair assumption that this should have been bleedingly obvious.

Scorpius' eyes widened. "Really? I've always wanted to meet a metamorphmagus," he said, clearly excited. Teddy looked somewhat curiously at Lily, as though wanting an explanation. "I'm a Transfiguration teacher, so I find it a fascinating ability… I did a unit of study on metamorphmagi as a major work for my N.E.W.T.S. I was obsessed with them when I was little. I was convinced I would be the first person to figure out how come the trait disappears and reappears generations later."

"I've wondered that myself, actually," he admitted. "Transfiguration was my favourite subject at Hogwarts... wish I got to use it more. Did you want to take a seat or something?" Teddy gestured to the seat next to him and Scorpius took it.

Immediately the two struck up a conversation about some complex branch of Transfiguration that Lily had no hope in ever understanding. She rolled her eyes, smiling at the fact that Teddy hadn't taken long to warm up to Scorpius. _Of course_, she thought to herself, _with Teddy it's as simple as finding common ground. Why didn't I think of that before?_ _It would have saved some awkwardness._

Lily decided that while they were in conversation, she would go and talk to Victoire. She tapped her cousin on the shoulder, as she seemed to be observing, rather than participating in, the conversation between Albus, James and Hugo. "Hey Vicki," she said with a smile.

The strawberry-blonde turned around, seeming glad of the distraction. She revealed pearly-white teeth as she smiled at Lily, standing up and gripping Lily's arm. "Lily, I'm glad you're here. There's something I want to tell you."

Looking at Teddy and Scorpius, who were chatting and laughing, along with occasional hair colour changes, she decided it was safe to leave them alone. She followed Victoire to the other side of the yard, far far away from the table, wondering what was so secret that no one else was allowed to hear.

As they stopped, Vicki let go of her arm and grinned, obviously very excited about something. "I've already told Rose and we're announcing it to everyone a little later this evening, but I wanted you to know first-" she paused as Lily grinned broadly; she loved secrets, being the first to know. She wasn't exactly _first_, since Rose already knew, but she was _one of the first_ and that was all that mattered. "Teddy and I are having a baby!" she squealed as quietly as possible, obviously having a hard time containing her joy.

"Oh my goodness, Vic, that's so wonderful!" Lily congratulated her, almost jumping with excitement. Upon remembering Teddy's position on having kids, she had to ask a question. "How did Teddy react when he found out?"

Victoire laughed softly. "He was a bit shocked at first, but excited too. He's really warmed to the idea; he keeps talking to my stomach, telling it bedtime stories... Though he has grumbled about having to learn to share my attention," she explained with a grin. "I suppose we both will."

For a moment Lily wondered whether Scorpius was like Teddy when it came to sharing. That was another thing Scorpius had in common with him aside from Transfiguration and blood; they were both only children. She smiled brightly at her cousin and brought her into a hug. "That's really great news, Vic. I'm really happy for you both."

Victoire grinned happily when they pulled apart. "Just don't tell Mol, okay, because I'd like it if we were the first to tell everyone."

Lily nodded seriously. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

When they reached the table, Scorpius and Teddy seemed to have just finished discussing something rather more serious than Transfiguration.

"What are you grinning so madly about?" Teddy questioned his wife suspiciously, pulling her over to sit on his lap.

"Nothing," Victoire said innocently, blushing as she avoided his eye and exchanged a grin with Lily. Teddy, after a couple of seconds staring at Lily to determine how guilty she looked, appeared to have caught on. He winked at her, changing his hair to a bright blue which made her roll her eyes. _Show off. _Teddy didn't need to be a mind-reader to know what Lily was thinking, which was evident as he smirked at her.

"Well, I suppose I'd better go introduce Scorpius to my brothers and Hugo…" began Lily, looking at Scorpius, who stood from his chair somewhat reluctantly.

Teddy snorted in response, rolling his eyes. "Good luck at trying to get them to talk about something that isn't the World Cup. They've been at it the whole time they've been here. I couldn't even get a word in." he commented.

"Well, maybe we'll have a little more luck," Lily said, smiling at her boyfriend and lacing her fingers with his. "I'll catch up with you both later."

With this, she lead him over to Albus and James, who were more or less identical when they were sitting down. When they stood however, there was a great difference in height between them, James being the taller of the two. He was also rather slim, while Albus had the same stockiness as her mother and Uncle George. They also had different coloured eyes; Albus' being a brilliant emerald green while James' were a muddy-brown, but this was difficult to see unless you were up rather close.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Lily asked casually, smiling as she reached her brothers and Hugo. Instantaneously they looked around from their conversations, saying "Hi Lily" in unison. "I'd like you all to meet Scorpius."

James, who was closest, was the first to react. "Malfoy," he said, in a menacing tone that went past the traditional 'don't you dare hurt my sister' hatred he had of all her past boyfriends. Lily felt like thumping him over the head for being so unfriendly as he rose from his seat and offered Scorpius his hand.

"Potter," Scorpius drawled coldly, taking his hand without hesitation, his jaw fixed rather squarely. Lily could tell by the vice-like grip that this definitely wasn't a friendly handshake. She frowned, wishing that her brother would have been a little more accommodating. Of course Scorpius was equally as cold, but he was only reacting to James. She knew her brother well enough to know that he was the bully in this situation. After all, she had been on the receiving end of some of his teasing when they were younger, but Lily thought he had grown out of it when he started Hogwarts. She was extremely relieved when, after what felt like an eternity, they let go.

"If you'll excuse me, there's something I need to talk to Teddy about." James excused himself, and Lily was glad of it. She could tell it would have been awkward had he stayed; it was as though the temperature itself had dropped simply because of their cold, steely glances. She didn't want to even imagine having to make conversation between them.

"Hi Scorpius." a pleasant voice interrupted her thoughts, and Lily was instantly grateful to Albus for being so nonchalant. _I knew there was a reason he's my __favourite__ brother_, she thought to herself with a smile. "Don't worry about James; he hasn't changed a bit since Hogwarts. Old grudges die hard, I guess. Oh, and while we're exchanging pleasantries I must warn you that I'm morally obligated to kill you if you hurt Lily or anything. No hard feelings, though, you understand. Pull up a chair?"

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**Author's Note**: So, chapter 8 ended up being _way_ too long to post in one go, and I don't want anyone to get bored and not finish it :p I decided to split it into two chapters; this is a taste of what's to come in chapter 9, sort of like one giant preview. 

Also, I have a proposition. I have two ideas on how things could go after chapter 10; I know which one _I_ would like to write, but I don't know if the reviewers would like it best. And since Juliet loves choose-your-own-adventures, you guys get to select!

Option ONE; this one doesn't have a big conflict attached, making it short and sweet.

Option TWO; with the surfacing of a hefty complication to be resolved, this version of the story throws their future together and possibly even their lives, into real doubt.

If you can't decide, I'll write which one I want and hope you guys like it :p. Questions and suggestions welcome. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and the ones to come!


	9. Last Names and Blood

**Dedication**: This is a special update dedicated to my good friend Victoria. Happy birthday for the 5th:)

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Scorpius snickered as he took James' seat, while Lily took the one next to him. From the way Albus had spoken to Scorpius, and known about his apparent problems with James, she couldn't help but wonder whether they had been friends at Hogwarts or something. _Of course, that's why he suggested sitting next to Albus at dinner_, she thought to herself. Unfortunately, Lily had already gone and placed him next to Rose on the seating chart. It was odd that Albus had never spoken about it. Perhaps they weren't very close because they had been in different houses, or maybe he didn't know what their parents would think of them being friends. 

"Hey Scorpius, nice to meet you. We haven't met before, but I'm Lily's cousin Hugo," said Hugo, leaning across to shake his hand. Lily was glad he was welcoming too. "I hear my dad had a conniption when he found out you were coming, it's brilliant." he said enthusiastically. She was a little less pleased as Hugo shared this information. Lily contemplated whether it would be better to kick him in the shins under the table to shut him up, or hide under it. She appreciated his honesty, but why did he have to be so brutally honest at the most inappropriate time possible?

Scorpius visibly stiffened at Hugo's words; he had told Lily that having him over for Christmas was a bad idea, but her uncle had a _conniption_? That made it sound even worse._ I knew it was a bad idea! Why did I let her talk me into it?_ he scolded himself. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, clearing his throat. "Really? Lily didn't mention that." he replied. Scorpius shot her a sideways look that made her avoid his eye guiltily.

She cleared her throat, trying to think of something to defend herself and apologise to Scorpius for not telling him, while at the same time leaving Hugo none the wiser. "Yes, well, he was er- a bit… surprised?" she grappled with the words, speaking in a small, vulnerable voice, "at first, considering our family history… but I explained everything to him and he's fine with it, really. I'll introduce you to him later, he's very funny…"

Scorpius was frowning at her, but Lily's eyes pleaded with him to forgive her. No one could resist those eyes; as the youngest of their little branch of the family, she had easily worked out many ways to get what she wanted, and the eyes was the most effective method of all. It only worked on males, and she had never tried it on a non-relative, but she was sure it would work. And it helped that she really _was_ sorry. His face softened and he sighed inaudibly, squeezing her hand in an obvious _I forgive you_. Lily smiled back at him, the word sorry still invariably etched in her eyes. "No matter," said Scorpius. "It just would have been nice to know is all."

Hugo looked between the two of them, aware that there was some kind of secret communication, though he was not quite sure what it all meant. Muttering something inaudible, Hugo shrugged it off. "I wouldn't worry about it, Scorp. Can I call you Scorp? He's in a good mood. I just got promoted, so he's pleased as punch."

"You got promoted?! Congratulations, Hugo!" Lily exclaimed excitedly. She flung her arms around his shoulders in congratulations. "Rose told me that some of the other trainees were being really nasty to you, so I bet that shut them up, eh? I would have hexed them, myself. But I suppose you don't have the Potter _and_ Weasley temper gene. Speaking of Weasleys, I wouldn't say anything to Uncle Percy. No doubt he'd find _some_ way to make the conversation all about himself."

"Too late for that," said Albus with a grimace. "He came over earlier this evening and Hugo just _had_ to tell him. He started going on about some new regulatory body in the Ministry... luckily James came and I excused myself to go say hi to him. But get this, I made a joke and he actually laughed! Uncle Percy. _Our_ Uncle Percy. _Laughing_. Must be in a good mood too."

Lily nodded. "I heard Lucy decided to follow in his footsteps and work at the Ministry, I'll bet that's why."

"She did? Funny that Molly didn't tell me, usually she'd be the first to pounce on the opportunity to show how wonderfully well-connected she is," Hugo said with a roll of the eyes. He turned from Lily to Scorpius. "You can't hide anything in this family, all the girls are compulsive gossips. Don't look at me like that, Lily, Rose told me you've been owling her to keep yourself in the loop. See, you can't hide anything."

Lily pretended to scowl, crossing her arms. What Hugo said was true, though; it was difficult to hide anything from their family. Between the thirteen Potter grandchildren (that, of course, included Teddy), their parents, grandparents and their contacts, you couldn't get away with anything. It had been worse in school, but Lily was still surprised that news about her and Scorpius hadn't made its way down the grapevine earlier.

"You certainly have a more tight-knit family than I've ever seen," observed Scorpius. "It's almost strange how well you all get along... there are so few secrets between you. With most of the families I know, things are only that simple on the outside."

Hugo shrugged, then he grinned devilishly at Lily before looking back at Scorpius. "Don't worry, if you're lucky you might learn to cope with our family. _Might_. Or, you might end up at St. Mungo's as a sociopath like most of Lily's past boyfriends."

Lily grinned, having expected something like this from the malevolent flicker of amusement that had passed across his face. "Hey,don't imply that _I _drove them mad. It was all _you_ guys and your constant pestering. The only boyfriend I ever sent to an institution was Alastair Bailey, after I caught him snogging Mollie Rookwood behind the greenhouses."

Albus nudged Scorpius. "Well, you two are a perfect match. Scorpius here is unlucky in love too. Remember when whats-her-face... what was it again? Jacquelyn, that's it. No one in their right mind would have gone out with her. Anyway, this one day we're standing outside Potions and she just comes over and asks him out. I've never seen anyone turn the shade of colour he did..." he paused to laugh, "so Scorpius is gawking at her in amazement and Jacquelyn starts abusing him because he isn't saying anything. Then she starts yelling about how he thinks he's better than everyone, and runs off crying... Scorpius, you just stood there for ages with your jaw hanging open. That day was _priceless_."

Scorpius turned sort of red at this, then snorted. "For _you_ maybe. _You_ weren't receiving wartcap powder from her for the rest of the term."

"Ah, the joys of being eleven," said Albus sarcastically.

They all snickered at this.

"Hey look," said Hugo suddenly, pointing at the door. "Here's everyone - what took them so long?"

It seemed that the Floo network had had a malfunction, judging by the fact that everyone seemed to be covered in more ash than was normal. Into the backyard filed Uncle George and Aunt Angelina, Grandpa wheeling in Grandma Weasley, both of whom were coughing, black flecks of soot in their greyed hair. They were followed by their cousins Roxanne and Fred, who were talking animatedly to Victoire's younger sister Dominique, all of whom seemed to have copped the worst bout of the fireplace ash. Bill was still in his Gringotts' work robes, followed by Louis, the bored-looking youngest Weasley grandchild, while their aunt Fleur swept in behind him, oblivious to the smudge of ash on her pointed nose.

"Hey Lily, you did the seating arrangements, right? Where am I sitting? If you put me next to Uncle Percy I'm going to hex you." said Albus calmly.

Lily rolled her eyes at her brother. "Don't worry, I didn't. Just hang on a few minutes, I'm going to say hi to grandma and grandpa, then I'll tell you where you're sitting. Scorpius, just sit with Albus for a few minutes and I'll be back."

Lily rose from her seat, moving around the table to greet her grandparents with a warm hug. She answered their various questions about her new job, but thankfully asked none about whether she was in a relationship. Lily hadn't told them about Scorpius, and was hoping they would fail to notice the blonde boy sitting next to her; she wasn't quite sure how sturdy her grandfather's heart was.

* * *

Now that everyone was here they could finally start the meal, and Lily was required to direct everyone to their seats before they could do so. It was a relatively painless process, with the slight exception of Uncle Fred's right foot, which had fallen casualty to grandma Weasley's wheelchair. After a slight fuss they were all seated and their food was being levitated onto the table. There was a general mumbling of a consensus that everything looked and smelled wonderful. Lily smiled, thinking of all the Christmases spent at her grandparents' house; her grandma cooked the best food. Her specialty was trifle, which she still cooked every year and was gloriously sweet and multi-layered. 

Throughout dinner there was a lot of laughing and good natured conversation; around the Weasley table, you had to yell to be heard. Scorpius didn't partake in the huge conversations, she noticed, preferring to listen and laugh along with the others. By the time dessert was nearing the conversation was beginning to lull as they nursed full bellies and between them, a copious amount of firewhiskey and mead.

When everyone had finished their meals, Teddy stood up to get everyone's attention with the chiming of his glass goblet. Lily smiled brightly at Victoire, who was looking rather nervous, knowing what was to come.

"Everyone, Victoire and I have an announcement to make," he began. Victoire stood up and took his hand with both of hers, smiling shyly at everyone as she stood slightly behind him. Looking at her over his shoulder, he grinned, before gazing out over the table. "We're having a baby."

There was an immediate reaction of smiles and cheers of congratulations erupting from the table, and Fleur leapt up to give both of them a hug, crying silently with happiness as Bill stood up to clap Teddy on the shoulder and hug his daughter. Lucy and Molly immediately went over to Victoire, both touching her stomach and evidently asking if that was what she had told Lily and Rose earlier. Victoire's expression was guilty, but she looked over at Lily and winked. Everyone seemed in even greater spirits now, knowing that at next year's Christmas table their number would be expanded by one.

Just as dessert was being brought out, Grandma Weasleys' trifle in a very large crystal container, a large tawny owl flew into the backyard, almost crashing into the trifle as it soared toward its destination. Albus was very red-faced when it landed next to his plate, and became even more embarrassed when Lucy snatched it up and declared that it was from his girlfriend, which he vehemently denied before departing to the house to write a reply.

Her brother James, she noticed, was looking very sourly in their direction, either because of Scorpius or possibly because she had placed cousin Molly and Uncle Percy on either side of him. As a few people at the end of the table switched chairs to talk to someone across the table, James took this opportunity to take the seat where Albus had been sitting, opposite of Scorpius. Lily felt unsettled at this, shifting as she saw the humorless look on his face and set jaw.

She had seen that look before, when they were at Hogwarts; one of James' friends had been caught with his girlfriend. This look had appeared briefly on his face, being replaced by a casual one as to lower his mates' guard before he got his revenge in the form of a rather nasty prank. She loved her big brother, and he was protective of her, but she was well aware that he was far from an angel, and had a nasty streak to boot.

Lily bit her lip anxiously, surveying his face intently as he picked at a piece of jelly with his fork. Scorpius seemed to notice this as he turned to smile at her, for his expression quickly turned to a concerned frown; he knew Lily didn't normally act this way, something had to be wrong. She looked nervous, but why? "Lily, are you alright? What's wrong?"

"Um, nothing," she said quietly, her gaze returning to James just as he looked up at her. His face flickered to Scorpius'. And there it was, the laid-back, deceptively friendly expression that warned her that something disparaging was to come.

"So, my slithersome friend, how did you find your meal?" he enquired of Scorpius, an air of sociable encouragement about his face. Lily eyed him warily, wondering whether he was being genuinely nice or if he was up to something.

Scorpius shifted nervously; James had picked a lull in conversation to address him, now all eyes and attention were on him, and he had never been a fan of the spotlight. "It was delicious, thankyou. Mrs Potter, Ms Weasley, you're both wonderful cooks. I'd be lucky to manage toast that isn't burnt on at least one side."

Quite a few of them laughed at this, picking at their desserts, though Lily noticed Rose watching James, her lips pursed with an air of distrust. _I'm not dreaming it, he really is up to something_, she thought to herself. She tried to catch his attention, but his gaze was fixed on Scorpius, and he wasn't laughing.

"This must be the most varied company you've ever been in. Half-bloods, muggleborns, muggles, barely a pureblood in sight, and all Weasleys nonetheless. You must be afraid to breathe, lest you catch some kind of hideous disease from the impure air."

Now it was clear; James was trying to provoke Scorpius into saying something incriminating about muggleborns, or something nasty about her family.

"James!" said her mother sternly from down the table, shocked and furious at the same time. Lily's face turned scarlet in anger at her brother, as she tried to think of a nasty remark to shoot back. To her immense bewilderment, however, Scorpius replied, and calmly.

"You know, they had a problem with inbreeding in Iceland because it's so small and used to be isolated from the rest of the world. Do you know what they did about it? Forgot about last names. Just did away with any thought of them. The world would be a lot better place if people could forget about last names, and blood."

The table was silent. James opened his mouth to say something, and then shut it again. He stood up, muttering about needing to go to the bathroom. Lily grinned blissfully, squeezing Scorpius' hand under the table, which he returned. In that moment, she was very thankful and aware that she had the most wonderful boyfriend in the world. If it had been anyone else but Scorpius, they would have buckled at James' provocation and snapped back at him. Scorpius simply took it on the chin (perhaps, Lily thought, he had endured spiteful comments like this all his life), and replied with something calm and dignified.

She had a powerful urge to kiss him full on the mouth and tell him how brilliant he was, but it would be inappropriate to do so at the table with all her relatives. Her mother was beaming at them both, and her Aunt Hermione wore a similar expression. Her father nodded in smiling approval and even her uncle Ron bore a crooked smile. They were all glad at the fact that their faith in Lily's choices had not been misplaced.

Albus chose this moment to return to the backyard, bemused when he realised they were all smiling or looking in Scorpius' direction. "Um, did I miss something?"

* * *

"Bye Grandma, bye Grandad! I'll come and see you soon, alright?" 

Grandma Weasley nodded to her. "Make sure you give me some notice dear, so I can have snacks ready. You can bring your friend, too, if you like."

Lily smiled, nodding, as she waved them off. As it turned out, her grandparents had taken a liking to Scorpius. What he had said at dinner seemed to have earned him some respect in their eyes, everybody's eyes. After dessert her grandfather had ended up talking to him about muggles; apparently Muggle Studies had been one of Scorpius' favourite subjects. Lily guessed that this was to the disdain of his family, which may have been the reason why Scorpius studied it. They also played muggle snap, in which her grandfather lost as usual, but that never dampened his spirits. Even Uncle Ron, who was jovial after their sumptuous dessert, seemed to approve of him, and Lily knew he would have been the hardest to crack. Despite his intentions, by forcing such a response from him, James had actually done Scorpius a favour.

By the time it got dark, most of the family except for the Granger-Weasley clan had left. Rose had to depart soon after, as she had a shift at St. Mungo's next morning ("On Christmas Day? Oh Rose, that's _horrid_!" her mother had said), Hugo had fallen asleep on a reclining chair, and Albus had gone out to see what they were now calling his 'mystery woman'. Lily had no idea where James was, as he hadn't returned after his nasty comment; he was probably off somewhere sulking, or at a friends' house. Lily and Scorpius sat with her parents and aunt and uncle outside for a short while, but it soon got a bit too chilly and they relocated to the fireplace, leaving the others to their long-standing annual argument about Elfish rights.

She sighed contentedly as she sat cross-legged, lazily watching the flickering embers, basking in the emanating warmth of the fireplace. Neither of them was talking, but it was by no means an awkward silence. It was comfortable and warm, and Lily had a feeling she was going to find it difficult to move from the spot. She rested her head on his shoulder and Scorpius responded by tenderly placing an arm around her waist.

Lily's head shot up as she remembered something from earlier and she sat on her knees so she could face him. "Oh! Scorpius, I forgot to tell you how wonderful you were earlier… you know, when James was being a prat. I'm so sorry Scorpius, I really wouldn't have expected it from him… but you did have a good time, right? I mean, my family hasn't scared you too much, have they?"

Scorpius shook his head, laughing at the amount of questions she had for him. "That's alright, Lily, I don't blame him. He probably thinks he's protecting you from me or something. You heard Albus. James is just a little more serious about it, that's all," he began. "Of course I'm not scared of them. They're a really interesting bunch, aren't they? All with their different interests, but you could pick that you're related from a mile off. It was nice to be able to sit around with your relatives… finally I know how a _real_ family behaves. And of course there's the added bonus of being able to spend Christmas with you..."

If the room wasn't so dimly lit by the fire, Scorpius would have been able to see just how much she was blushing at that moment. Lily quickly looked over his shoulder toward the door to the backyard, which made Scorpius stare at her in bemusement. "What are you doing?" he questioned.

"Making sure mum and dad aren't coming inside." she replied simply, still looking.

"Why?"

Lily placed her arms around his shoulders, with one hand in his hair as she surprised him with a kiss that was soft, but passionate; after a second he placed both arms around her waist and kissed her back, thankful he wasn't as inept at kissing as he may have looked. Lily was pleasantly surprised to find that he did not pull away, but deepened the kiss. She never wanted to leave this spot, this moment, to forget the taste of his lips…

As they pulled apart and she rested her head on his shoulder again, everything melted away. All the fears she had about her family, their relationship, it meant nothing now; as they held each other, bathed in the light of the fire, Lily knew that nothing could possibly go wrong.

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Previews 

"No, I'm not welcome there as long as grandfather is, because in his eyes I'm making the 'wrong choices'. He made that perfectly clear last time. And don't lecture me about the way I act, or who I choose to spend my time with. I don't live in Malfoy Manor any more and I'm certainly no longer subject to your 'code of conduct'." he said defiantly.

XXX

But at the same time he was glad to be telling her this; he'd never shared it with anyone else before, because he'd never been this close to anyone before. It was a wonderful feeling, being close to her... being able to trust someone so unconditionally without having to fear getting hurt. He never wanted to let that feeling go again.

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**Disclaimer:** Woe is me, I am not the brilliant mind from whence the Harry Potter universe emerged from, I am merely a simple fanfic writer whose butler recently returned with her muse, and who has decided to use this to her advantage. 

**Author's Note**: Hope you guys enjoyed the Christmas chapter! I'm looking forward to posting the next one. It has a _lot_ of characterization for Scorpius, as well as lots of gooey, romantic mush! Yep, so much that you could feed it to your toothless grandmother XD Anyway, I'm very proud of the next chapter, so I'm demanding _at least_ 5 reviews before anyone sees it! -evil cackle-


	10. A Changed Man

**Author's Note**: If you received a chapter alert, I'm sorry this isn't the next chapter. For some reason it wasn't showing up on the site so I had to delete the chapter and re-add it. No idea how it happened, but I'm sorry! Here's chapter 10 for you.

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On the last day of their Christmas holidays, Lily and Scorpius decided to take a trip to Diagon Alley to restock on school supplies before they returned. They had been walking around since the early morning, his arm gently around her waist as they wandered, occasionally running into their pupils and stopping to say an awkward hello.

"You know what, I'm starting to feel like a celebrity. I can't go five feet without being recognized, I've got a beautiful girl on my arm…"

Lily laughed. "We teach at least a thousand kids, all of whom need to get school supplies at some point; when you went into teaching, surely you realized anonymity was no longer an option?"

Scorpius laughed. "I didn't think about that, no. How about we go to Fortescue's and retreat from the public eye for a few minutes? I'll buy."

Lily nodded. "Sounds like a plan," she grinned.

As they turned the corner, Scorpius paused in a way reminiscent of a rabbit that had sighted a hunting dog in the distance. As she searched his face, Lily found that his eyes were wider than usual; the warm gaze he so easily held her with had turned to one of anxiety. Scorpius was generally good at keeping his cool; she wondered what could possibly make him react this way. 

For the first time since he had frozen mid-step, Scorpius realised Lily's scrutiny. He righted himself, hoping that by some miracle Lily hadn't noticed, at the same time mentally kicking himself for failing to contain his emotions. A Malfoy, even a disgraced one, knew better than that. "How about we step over here for a couple of minutes?" 

He dragged her to an alleyway which led to a dead-end. Lily arched a suspicious eyebrow; somehow she didn't think this was for snogging. "Scorpius, what's going on? Why are we hiding in some scummy-"

"Scorpius!" 

As the voice caught her ears, Scorpius froze once again, this time in a way that clearly said _busted_.

"I thought I saw you leading someone down a dirty alleyway. Whatever are you doing?"

_Damn_, Scorpius thought. _He never did let me win at hide-and-seek_. "Oh, hello father. Fancy seeing you here. Is mum here?" he questioned, looking around hopefully.

"Unfortunately your mother has taken ill. Nothing serious, of course, but she did insist that I procure a copy of her favourite magazine while she is incapacitated." explained Draco Malfoy. 

Lily didn't have to ask who he was; Scorpius was the spitting image of him, despite several subtle differences. As he finished talking, Draco's eyes fell on Scorpius' companion; her flowing red hair, small frame and emerald eyes all but screamed her name. As his nose wrinkled inscrutably in distaste, Lily noticed a huge difference between them; his eyes held none of the warmth and genuine kindness she could see in Scorpius'. Draco's were carefully removed of emotion, though there were several other signs of his aversion. "Young Miss Potter, is it?" he said cordially. 

"Yes, nice to meet you, sir. Please, call me Lily." she replied, feeling as though she was standing in front of a Professor she was somewhat afraid of. He had an air of authority about him, from his fine robes and upturned expression to the superfluous manner in which he conducted himself. And it was all but obvious that he didn't approve of her.

"Yes. If you'll excuse us for a moment, I'd like to have a word with my son." He beckoned Scorpius to the end of the alley. 

Scorpius shuffled away from Lily reluctantly, aware by the disapproving expression on his father's face that he was about to get a lecture in his choice of company and possibly more.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Draco began. "Scorpius, I am extremely concerned about you. First, we get no word from you at Christmas, and now I find you, shabbily dressed," he poked at the pale blue sweater with a navy blue S on it that Grandma Weasley had sent to Lily for him (which, while it was well-meaning of her and the colour suited his complexion, her knitting was about as good as her eyesight), "and loitering around a filthy back alley with that Potter girl... please tell me you are not romantically involved with the likes of her."

Scorpius' jaw set stubbornly. If his pompous, conceited father thought he was going to speak as though he could control him, he had another thing coming. And there was _no bloody way_ he was going to allow his father to refer to Lily as though she was unworthy of him. "Yes, I'm dating that Potter girl. That Potter girl who may be the best thing that's ever happened to me. That Potter girl whose father _saved your life_ on more than one occasion, that Potter girl whose family was generous enough to allow a complete stranger - knowing it was _me_, no less - into their household for Christmas, when my own _family_ wouldn't even do the same!" he replied heatedly, bitterly wishing he could say exactly what he felt like saying right now: _That Potter girl who makes up for having a coward of a father like you._

"Scorpius, you're always welcome at our house, holidays or otherwise." replied Draco, his tone indicative that this was not the first time he'd said such a thing.

"No, I'm not welcome there as long as grandfather is, because in his eyes I'm making the 'wrong choices'. They made that perfectly clear the last Christmas I spent there. And don't lecture me about the way I act, or who I choose to spend my time with. I don't live in Malfoy Manor any more and I'm certainly no longer subject to your 'code of conduct'." he said defiantly._If mum was here_, he thought to himself, _she'd put him in his place_. Because they tended to choose strong, opinionated women, the only people the Malfoy men were afraid of were their significant others. Astoria would have been disgusted with her husband had she been present.

"That may be true," began his father with a steely gaze, "but your actions in public reflect on _my_ skills as a parent." 

"Well. I suppose you didn't do a very good job then, did you?" he replied coldly. Turning on his heel he returned to Lily, grabbed her hand and led her out of the alley without a word.

They reemerged silently into Diagon Alley, Scorpius with a stony look on his face as they headed toward the ice cream parlour. Lily looked over her shoulder at the entrance of the alley, where Scorpius' father was looking at them briefly, before disapparating away.

Her gaze returned to Scorpius, concerned. "Scorpius, what happened? What did he say to you?"

"I'll tell you when we get to Fortescue's." he replied without looking at her, as they neared the entrance to the shop.

A bell sounded as they entered, and the plain whitewashed walls seemed to have a calming effect on Scorpius. He sighed, his shoulders loosening as he turned to her. "What flavor do you want?"

"Um, peanut butter and fudge," she replied simply, wondering whether he was going to tell her what had happened back in the alley.

"Cup or cone?" he asked.

"Cone, please."

"Do you want to sit down? I'll be right back." Lily sat at the small circular table as Scorpius walked over to the counter and ordered their ice-creams, returning shortly after.

"Here we go, one peanut butter and fudge," he said, taking his seat and licking a drip of ice-cream off his hand.

"Scorpius, what happened back there?" she questioned him gently, hoping the meeting with his father hadn't put him in a bad mood.

"Nothing." he replied simply.

"I understand if you don't want to tell me, Scorpius, but please don't lie. It was obviously _something_… was it about me?"

Scorpius sighed, looking up into her eyes. "No… and yes. It was about you, and everything else. Look, it's nothing, don't worry about it… it's been like this since I was little. You've probably realized by now, that we don't see eye to eye. And after everything that's happened, we never will be able to."

Lily bit her lip, pondering how she could approach this issue in a sensitive way. "Scorpius, was… was your father… abusive, towards you? If you don't want to talk about it I completely understand, we can talk about something else if you're uncomfortable."

"No." Scorpius waved her words away. "Nothing like that. He wasn't cruel or hard-hearted, he never did anything. That's the point... he just sat back and let my grandfather try and bully me into acting in whatever way he saw fit for a _pureblood_ to act." he explained. 

The corner of Lily's lips twitched at the way he spat the word 'pureblood', as though it was some kind of filthy bacteria; even her uncle Ron would find it hard not to smile at that. "Nothing I ever did was good enough. My marks were never high enough, my clothes were never neat and clean enough, no girl I dated was ever pretty or smart or pure enough... none of my choices were good enough. And he just sat there and let him me berate every time they visited. Probably all for the sake of his stupid inheritance, too." Scorpius' nose wrinkled at this, his family's, the pureblood obsession with money and material objects.

He shook his head. "If I'm a coward, if I'm too shy to say what I think, they're the reason. They never allowed me to be who I wanted to. You know, my grandfather tried to stop dad from marrying mum. He defied them for love, and then he expects me to do whatever they say? Get a desk job at the Ministry, marry some pathetic, pure, trophy wife? Purebloods are all about their stupid appearances. I had enough, so a couple of years ago, I left. I still see mum, but I haven't been back to Malfoy Manor in almost three years." Scorpius sighed when he had finally finished. 

He knew he was ranting, and that it was plainly embittered. But at the same time he was glad to be telling her this; he'd never shared it with anyone else before, because he'd never been this close to anyone before. It was a wonderful feeling, being close to her... being able to trust someone so unconditionally without having to fear getting hurt. He never wanted to let that feeling go again.

Lily squeezed his hand. Having grown up in a loving, supporting family, she would never understand what it was like to be criticized her whole life. It sounded as though his father was indirectly horrible to him, but at the same time she knew that all parents wanted what was best for their children. But Draco was doing what _he_ thought best, not what Scorpius thought best. She knew that his wounds were still hurting right now, but she hoped that when he was ready, Scorpius would reconcile with his father.

In the meantime, Lily could love and support him in a way he hadn't been before. "When I met you, I knew there had to be a reason why you were so shy and downcast all the time. I just couldn't get it... you have so many things going for you, Scorpius... I didn't understand why you weren't more confident. Now I know why you did that, you were afraid of rejection… but you're a lot less shy now. You say things you wouldn't have before… I don't know why you've changed, but I'm glad that we can talk like this." Lily smiled at him affectionately, the thought that he felt secure enough to invest his trust in her filling her with warmth. 

"You may not know, but I'm sure of it. Only one person I know is amazing enough to teach an old dog new tricks." He grinned, looking her directly in the eye as he took her soft, porcelain-pale hand and kissed it softly. 

She blushed a deep crimson, flattered. Then, she laughed, "Well, I don't think I'm quite as amazing as you think, but if you want to believe that I'm responsible… that's fine by me."

They both smiled at each other for a second, before Scorpius cupped her cheek with one hand and leaned over to softly capture her lips with his. 

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Previews

Another irritating thing about being back at Hogwarts was Tristan Saunders. After a serious bout of spattergoit, Madam Hooch had decided to hang up her broom and retire, so he was now a permanent fixture on the staff. First of all, Saunders didn't like Scorpius in the slightest bit, and he had the nasty habit of appearing any time Scorpius and Lily were alone.

XX

"So you've finally decided to join me," he said icily. "Let's just get this patrol over with, alright."

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**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Harry Potter universe or any affiliated trademarks. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Author's Note**: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, because option two is about to kick in, which means the honeymoon is definitely over -evil laugh-


	11. All Good Things

**Author's Note:** Okay, so chapter 10 is working properly again from my computer... I emailed support so I think they fixed it for me, yay. If not, contact me and I'll try again. Anyway, here's chapter 11 as a consolation for the blank-ness.

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By the time they arrived at Hogwarts, it was clear that every single student knew about Lily and Scorpius. Students that hadn't seen them at the dinner before Christmas Eve or Diagon Alley had heard about it through their friends. That much was clear as they traipsed down the corridors, accompanied by whispering and gossiping whether they happened to be holding hands or not, together or alone. Lily had heard a conversation between some of the fourth years, in which a Hufflepuff boy declared how disgusting it was to think of their Professors in a relationship, to which another loudly announced, "Well I think we should support it. They give out less homework when they're happy." _Note to self, deduct five points from Hufflepuff at next available opportunity_, Lily thought to herself as she rounded the corner, resisting the urge to glare at them.

Scorpius' experience was much the same as hers. He didn't mind, though, because being with Lily was worth it; somehow he guessed they'd be chaperoning many Hogsmeade trips to come. He only wished that he could take her out for dinner or something, like most witches and wizards their age; that was a drawback to being a Hogwarts teacher. Though it was a cushy job, they had to be there all day and night, and holidays were their only respite, while Aurors and Healers could simply go home at the end of the day and meet each other anywhere they pleased. He'd never thought of that before, but then again he had never dreamed he would meet someone like Lily, either.

Another irritating thing about being back at Hogwarts was Tristan Saunders. After a serious bout of spattergoit, Madam Hooch had decided to hang up her broom and retire, so he was now a permanent fixture on the staff. First of all, Saunders didn't like Scorpius in the slightest bit, and had the nasty habit of appearing any time he and Lily were alone. Scorpius figured this was a consequence of him being best friends with James Potter, who had probably asked him to keep an eye on Lily. And unlike her, Scorpius hadn't forgotten that Tristan had asked her out earlier. She continued to insist that he had probably only done it because of James, that he had nothing to worry about. Scorpius knew it was irrational of him to feel threatened, but he still couldn't help but feel pangs of envy when he saw the two walk into the Great Hall together, Lily laughing brightly.

"Hey," she said to him wearily, pecking him on the cheek before she sat down next to him. She was so relieved that it was Friday and she would have a couple of days to relax; she knew the holidays had just passed, but she already couldn't wait until the next ones.

"What were you doing walking here with Tristan?" asked Scorpius immediately; he was attempting to be nonchalant, but he knew he'd blown it by asking her the minute she had sat down.

"You're not _still_ on about that, are you? He happened to be walking my way so he decided to join me. Perfectly innocent." she replied with a roll of the eyes.

"_Happened to be walking your way_? Think about it, Lily. His last class was with the first years, _outside_. Your class was where exactly? In the dungeons, _halfway across the castle_. Strange detour for him to take when all he has to do is walk through the Entrance Hall, don't you think?"

Lily opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped to think; he really had her on that one. She sighed. "Okay, you're right. I'm sorry, it just didn't cross my mind-"

"See, I'm not paranoid at all, I-"

"-_but_," Lily continued, pretending he hadn't interrupted. "it still doesn't mean anything. If he's keeping an eye on me, if he likes me, it doesn't matter, because you're the one I like. Okay? You don't have to watch his every movement around me."

"But that's the thing, Lily. I _do_ have to watch his movements so I can point out when he's being sneaky, because you're too good-natured to see it." he countered.

"Fine. Can we just have dinner without arguing?" she questioned with a sigh.

Scorpius nodded, because he didn't want to make her anymore frustrated than she already was. "How was your day?" he questioned softly.

Lily sighed. "Apparently Silas Zabini and Isaac Valentine have taken it upon themselves to become the next Weasley twins," she began, silently cursing her uncles, "because yesterday they were trading some kind of novelty item, which caused a huge racket. I confiscated it, but from the noises I've been hearing from my office I assume they have more. Aurora will neither visit the Slytherin common room nor allow me to sort out the problem, because she seems to think I'm _challenging her authority_. Or so she said to me when I confronted her about it earlier. Rather than actually listening to the fact that I got _no_ sleep last night, she thought it pertinent to tell me that she's been here for 35 years. All in all a productive day, wouldn't you say?"

Scorpius stared blankly at her in response to the biting sarcasm in her tone. He felt even guiltier for arguing with her now, as obviously her day had been less than enjoyable. Furthermore he had absolutely no idea what to say to her. "Wow, that's… uh…" he began, then sighed, preparing to do what he knew he must. "I'm sorry if I made it worse Lily, I just – look, I'll stop going on about Saunders, alright? I didn't mean to make it seem like I don't trust you or anything. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'm sorry for snapping at you. But I told you that you have nothing to worry about, really. Tristan is nice and everything, but come on. He's dull – and he's going _grey_."

They both looked at Tristan, who was talking to Professor Sinistra, and shared a private laugh. Grinning, they both went back to their meals, a silent accord reached between them.

Later that night Lily heard a knock on her door. Scorpius was supposed to be dropping in so they could hang out and talk to each other without the scrutiny of the students and their fellow Professors. Not that that weren't getting used to it after this tedious week, but it would be nice for them to sit around and just be themselves. Flipping her dark red hair over her shoulder (Scorpius had convinced her to keep it her natural colour), she bounded to open the door.

Her face fell infinitesimally. "Oh, hello Professor Saunders… um, can I help you?"

"Yes Lily, thankyou," said Tristan, apparently taking this as an invitation to come into her office. Biting her lip, Lily closed the door and hoped he'd be gone before Scorpius came. She didn't have reason to feel guilty, but she knew he'd be somewhat suspicious to see the two of them in her office together when the flying Professor had no business there.

"What's this about?" Lily questioned him, eager to get whatever this was over with so she could talk to Scorpius.

"I have a little sister in training to be a Healer, you see, and she has to write about the properties of a certain Potions ingredient. She's having a difficult time finding sources to help her, so I thought who better to ask than the Hogwarts Potions Master? Do you think you can help me?"

Lily nodded. "I'll try. What ingredient is it?"

"I don't know how to pronounce it, it's this…" he walked toward her, staring down at what appeared to be a small passage from a book, including a picture, common name and scientific name of the plant. She frowned slightly, wondering why he hadn't gone to the Herbology teacher first. This particular ingredient was uncommon, yes, but not all that difficult to find information on if you were willing to put in the work.

"Yes, I can help, what exactly do you need to know about it?"

"Just… just," Tristan paused, looking from the parchment to her eyes. "You know, James told me what you said."

"Sorry? Said about what?"

"It's alright, you don't have to say anything. I completely understand, and… I feel the same way." He stepped toward her, cupping one cheek with his large hands, and kissed her. Lily was so shocked that she was temporarily rooted to the spot. In her peripheral vision, she saw the door open and a tall, platinum blonde figure freeze immediately.

Lily pushed Tristan away and turned toward the door, "Scorpius, I-" she began, but he'd closed the door on her before she could say anything. She could hear his footfalls echoing down the stone corridor. Lily fiddled with the doorknob as she went to chase after him, hoping upon hope that he would listen to reason. "Scorpius, wait! I know what it looks like, but it isn't, and-"

"I'm not stupid, I know what I saw!" he seethed, turning around to tower over her angrily. "Actually, I take that back, I _am_ stupid. Stupid for believing anything you ever said about how you felt about me, about _him_, and thinking that you were different from all the other liars… well I was wrong. I apologise for my stupidity." He spat, departing at a brisk pace away from the dungeons. Lily was quaking as she watched him go.

"Lily, I-" came a gentle voice, but she cut Saunders off. That ruddy bastard was going to get it when all her energy wasn't going into preventing the angry tears that threatened to flow freely down her rosy cheeks.

"Leave."

"I saw you two arguing tonight at dinner, and James told me that… I thought you'd"

"_Leave,_"she hissed."_Now._"

Throwing a concerned glance back at her, she glared him off. _Thought we'd broken up? Yeah right… but clearly we're not together _now, _I'll be surprised if Scorpius ever speaks to me__again… and he was just beginning to open up to me…after this disaster who says he'll ever open up to _anybody_, ever again?_

Lily retreated into her office in shock. Sitting at her desk, she frowned at a picture of her, Scorpius, her parents and brothers on Christmas Day. Seeing the smug look on mini-James' face, she turned it face down.

On Saturday night, Lily was assigned to patrol duty. This was enough of a pain in the arse in the first place, but making matters worse, tonight her partner was Scorpius. Usually she would have relished the opportunity to spend hours walking around deserted, winding corridors with him, but she knew that tonight was going to be awkward. Chances are he would be refusing to talk to her, but maybe if she persisted enough he'd listen to her. After all, they were in the same place 24/7, he couldn't possibly ignore her for the rest of their teaching careers.

But for now, she dreaded talking to him. She was the first person he'd ever opened up to, instilled his trust in, and she'd betrayed him. Even if she hadn't done it on purpose, Scorpius didn't believe that yet, and she could completely understand that he was feeling humiliated and hurt. Lily knew that if she had been in his position, not knowing what she knew, she would feel the same. Lily would give Scorpius space until he recovered a little bit, then she would explain exactly what happened when he wasn't in a mood to fight.

His ramrod straight posture as she approached him was an indication that this was not the right moment.

"So you've finally decided to join me," he said icily. "Let's just get this patrol over with, alright."

Lily nodded and they set off down the hallway. She sighed at the realisation that it was going to be impossible not to talk to him when he was right there, not to fight for him to believe her as long as she was capable. "You kn-"

"I don't believe talking is part of our duty, just in case my implication was not overt enough for you."

"Look, just listen to me! I-"

Scorpius raised his voice to talk over her. "No thankyou, I think I've heard enough of your meaningless drabble to last me an eterni-"

"JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME, WILL YOU! I-"

"Professors! What is going on here? I step out of my office to find you having a screaming match in the corridor! You are _Professors_! You are both mature adults and as such, I expect you to keep your private lives separate from your duties! You're lucky you haven't woken the whole castle," Vector berated them, her face pale and livid. "This is a warning to both of you; if I catch you at it again, you will be _out_ of my school." Turning on her heel, Vector strode down the corridor and back toward her office.

"This is entirely your fault! If you would only listen to me, talk to me so we can sort this out, we wouldn't be in this mess!" Lily snapped, though much more quietly.

"My fault? Don't blame this on me, _you_ created this mess by lying, cheating, and - have I missed anything out?" Scorpius retorted in a dangerously low voice. "But don't worry. By tomorrow none of it will matter. Look, you patrol the eastern side of the castle and I'll patrol the west. That way we won't tear each others' heads off. Goodnight, _Professor._"

With that, Scorpius strode off down the corridor, leaving Lily wide-eyed in his wake. "What did he mean by that?" Lily asked herself anxiously. _'By tomorrow none of it will matter'? I don't like the sound of that, not at all_, she thought to herself, biting her lip.

Now a seemingly impossible task had fallen into her lap. How was she ever going to convince him that she wasn't interested in Saunders, that he had practically forced himself upon her? What if Scorpius wouldn't see reason, wouldn't take her back?

She imagined the scene in her head; she would chase after him, and he would tell her to leave him alone, but she would persist. Lily would hex his mouth shut if she had to, to make him understand. She'd explain everything, tell him he was right about Tristan and that she should have seen it coming, and he would take pity on her naïveté and see that she really was sorry, and take her back.

But for now she felt too feeble for this. Powerless to follow him, she had no choice but to watch Scorpius walk down that corridor, every stride taking him a small eternity away from her until he disappeared into the darkness. She was going to have to soldier on weakly, alone until bedtime, when she could pretend this day had never happened, and they could be together again in her dreams.

When Lily arrived in the Great Hall the next morning she was more than slightly concerned to find that Scorpius wasn't at his seat like usual. His last words had played on her mind all night, invading her dreams and keeping her from a slumber in which nothing had changed and they were just a happy couple again, sitting in front of the fire on Christmas Eve.

She paused momentarily, glancing wildly around the Hall for a glimpse of his platinum blonde hair; she didn't care if he didn't talk to her, she just wanted to see that he was okay. Realising that he was nowhere to be found, her gaze returned to the teachers' table, where the entire staff appeared to staring at her. Immediately they went back to their breakfast conversations, but Lily saw the sideways looks they were throwing her occasionally. _They're probably just staring because they heard about the fight_, Lily thought to herself, though she wasn't entirely convinced.

Holding her head as high as possible, she walked toward the staff table, relieved to see that Professor Saunders, too, was absent. _Prick_, she thought to herself with fury. _Must be afraid to show his face in case I hex him… wise man. _As she neared the table, she was surprised to see the Headmistress walking toward her, a grave look on her stony face. This was not good at all.

"Professor Potter, I'd like to have a word with you before you begin your breakfast, if you don't mind."

Lily nodded numbly at her, throwing an anxious glance at Scorpius' chair before following her toward her office. All the way Lily was silent, miserable and confused, afraid of what she was about to hear. Where on earth was Scorpius?

They had reached her office, a place that made her feel like a misbehaved student, though James had been there many more times than her during his school career. James, who she was going to curse at the next opportunity for starting the whole fiasco. She could accept the fact that he didn't like Scorpius, but he hadn't even tried to talk to him, or to understand her feelings for him; not only that, but he'd gotten his friend to help break them up. Sure they'd had their disagreements in the past, but this felt like a betrayal.

"Sit down, if you please, Lily," said Septime. Professor Vector sat at her chair and Lily followed suit. "I'm certain you've already noticed, conspicuous by his absence, that Professor Malfoy is not among us today. I'm unsure of what happened between the two of you, but at some time this morning he came to my office to inform me that he would be leaving Hogwarts."

Lily's jaw dropped open. _What? What?! Leaving Hogwarts? But he lives for teaching, for Transfiguration, how could he… how could this…_ her brain slowed down as she tried to digest this information. This couldn't be happening. First he'd broken up with her because of a misunderstanding, and now he had left the school forever? All in the space of a day? She simply couldn't believe this. "I'm sorry?" she blurted, now tempted to believe that this whole thing was a ruse, a practical joke, because this could not truly be happening.

"I was as shocked as you when he informed me, I must say. He told me that at Christmas a relative of yours had spoken to him about a Ministry position where his skills would be put to good use. Earlier yesterday he sent an owl to see if the position was still open, and he was accepted," she continued. _Teddy_, Lily cursed, gaping. _So that's what they finished talking about when Vic and I came back... I didn't even think to ask him! And neither of them even bothered to tell me, not even a mention of it!_

"Of course I regret the loss of a great educator, but naturally I cannot hold him here against his wishes. I thought I should inform you before you heard it from another member of staff. We're going to tell the students tonight at dinner and I'll be spending the day searching for a suitable replacement. If you would like any time off in the next couple of days, I would more than understand."

Lily suddenly felt sick to the stomach. He had left Hogwarts because of her, and it was her own bloody relative that had given him a means of leaving. She had been planning to wear him down over time, but how was she to do this when the only time she could leave Hogwarts was in the holidays? Not only that, but she would be forced to work side by side with Tristan Saunders, knowing that he was the reason Scorpius wasn't there to brighten her day anymore. It was remarkable how things had spiralled so quickly from bad to worse. "No, that's alright. I'll be fine," said Lily finally, her mouth very dry. It was a thinly-veiled lie, and Vector saw right through it, pursing her thin lips in concern.

"If you feel the need to talk to me at any time, I will be in my office. I hope you understand this. Now, I mustn't keep you from your breakfast any longer."

"Of course… thank you Professor." she replied with a nod, standing up awkwardly and making her way not to the Great Hall for breakfast, but to her chamber where she collapsed on her bed and gave into a fit of tears.

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Previews

"Teddy, can you answer this question for me, honestly? If you were in his situation, would you forgive me? If this was you and Victoire, would there be any way to make things between you right?"

XX

"I'm about three seconds away from hexing your bloody nose off, so unless you fancy the idea of Poppy refashioning the remains of your face I suggest you _back off_."

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**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Harry Potter characters, that privilege belongs to JKR.

**Author's Note**: Hmm, misleading chapter title maybe? :p Please don't hate me too much! I hope it wasn't too angsty for you guys. But I wouldn't stress, because things can't really get much worse, right? :p


	12. You've Been Warned

By Sunday morning Lily had had a full restless night's worth of time to think about her situation with Scorpius. Down in the dungeons, every echo of noise from the Slytherin common room had seemed magnified tenfold. There was also the fact that she had been sleep deprived for the past few days, which perhaps was the reason for the odd conclusion she'd come to about things.

If Teddy had been the one to offer Scorpius the job, Lily reasoned, she could just go talk to him about it, change his mind, make Teddy tell Scorpius that he was wrong about the need for another employee in that department. She knew it was a horrible thing to do, but working at Hogwarts wouldn't be torture for Scorpius as long as they worked things out. And she knew that if he returned he'd be somewhat forced to, for the sake of both their jobs. Then, she thought, everything could go back to normal.

She knew Teddy slept in late on weekends, so she decided to give him the courtesy of not showing up until later than she desperately wanted to, because if he lacked sleep he would be predisposed to refusing. She had also realised that Victoire would have been useful in helping her convince him, but unfortunately she and her mother were in France visiting her aging grandmother to tell her the big news.

At around ten o' clock she walked to Hogsmeade, then apparated to the sleepy wizarding village where Teddy and Victoire lived. She opened the gate of the white picket fence and strolled down the path, past the neatly-manicured lawn and garden, to the steps of their comfy little house. Knocking loudly on the door, she hoped that Teddy wasn't still asleep, or that he hadn't gone out with friends. Moments later there was movement inside, and the young wizard appeared at the door in his everyday robes, his hair a gaudy shade of turquoise with magenta tips. "Oh, hello Lily, what brings you here? Come in, it's freezing out there."

"Hey Teddy," she said as she stepped over the threshold. "How's Victoire?"

"Vic's good, still not showing yet but I expect it won't be too long. She's not here at the moment, though, you do know that?"

Lily nodded. "Uh-huh, I actually came to talk to you."

"I'll put the kettle on, in that case," he replied. Lily had to suppress a laugh as he walked to the kitchen; he was wearing a pair of what she was sure were Victoire's slippers. It just showed that he couldn't go for even a couple of days without being close to her in some way or another. Soon, Teddy was bustling about the room in search of tea bags, muttering under his breath as he did so. "So, I hear your boyfriend will soon be coming to work in the Ministry. You must be happy for him."

Lily bit her lip. "Actually, that's sort of what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh?" he said absentmindedly, turning on the kettle as his search for tea bags was finally justified.

"Yes. Well, I don't know if you've heard, but we sort of had a complication and… Ineedyoutotakebacktheposition."

"Slow down a bit Lily, I didn't catch one word of that. What happened?"

Lily sighed. "Well, something sort of happened between us and that's why he decided to take the position. I tried to talk to him but he wouldn't listen, and if he's not working at Hogwarts then I'll never see him and I'll never have the chance to apologize, so I thought maybe you could take back the position so he could come back."

Teddy looked up at her sympathetically from his cup of tea. "It's not that simp-"

"But why? Why can't you just take it back? You don't understand how important this is, Teddy. I know I'm being selfish, but what if Victoire wasn't talking to you and there was a chance you'd never be able to see her again, what would you do? You'd do everything in your power to try and get her back, so can't you please help me?" she pleaded with him earnestly.

Everyone knew that there was nothing more important to Teddy than Victoire; if she was comparing her feelings for Scorpius to his for Victoire, Lily clearly wasn't joking around. "That much, Lily?" he questioned, to which Lily nodded slowly. Teddy sighed, seizing her arms in case she tried to interrupt him again. "Lily, I would if I could, but the fact is that _I'm_ not in charge of the department, _I_ didn't give him the jo-"

"But Vector said that-"

"I _told_ him about the job, yes, and I'm truly sorry about that. If there was anything in the world I could do to help you, I would, Lily. You're like a little sister to me. I hate to see you upset, but there's nothing that I can possibly do." He explained to her softly, now feeling extremely guilty for mentioning the job to Scorpius. Sensing by the sniffles that the tears were about to fall, Teddy cringed; he _hated_ it when girls cried, he had no idea what to say to them. "Look, why don't you sit down and tell me what happened? I might be able to help you think of what to tell him, at the very least. Come on, tell me what happened. From the top."

Teddy was a good listener, but refused to believe that her brother had any part in this. Upon finishing her story, it was clear that he realised just how difficult the situation was. It was also apparent that he had no idea how to help her, having never been in the situation himself. Lily didn't want inconvenience him for much longer, but there was just one thing she had to ask.

"Teddy, can you answer this question for me, honestly? If you were in his situation, would you forgive me? If this was you and Victoire, would there be any way to make things between you right?"

Teddy sighed. "That's a very difficult question, Lily. I don't know. With the information he knows so far, I don't blame him for his reaction, I'm sure you agree. He just trusted what he saw. Find a way to explain it to him – I know you've tried already and it didn't work, so think of other avenues. Write to him or something… spoken words can be harsh, but things can be easier to believe if they're down on paper. As for if it were me and Victoire… I dunno. I truly don't know. I'm sorry, I haven't been much help to you Lily, have I?"

"I shouldn't have asked you to take back his position, anyway. It was wrong… I suppose I'm just sleep deprived," Lily said with a shrug, sighing. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

"You care about him a lot, that's why you're like this. Just make him realise that. Don't worry, it'll turn out right in the end."

Lily nodded, hoping that he was correct. "Thanks Teddy, you really were helpful. I better be going… make sure you and Vic owl me regularly with all the news, okay?"

Teddy snorted. "You Weasley women and your gossip… don't worry, if I forget I'm sure Vic will. See you soon, Lily."

* * *

Apparating into Hogsmeade rather than taking the Floo network proved to be a good idea, because it gave Lily plenty of time to clear her head on the way back to the castle. She sighed as the castle loomed in sight. It was so much more uninviting, colder without him; she desperately wished she could escape for a while, forget it all.

_No_, she thought. She didn't want to forget. She didn't want to forget about Scorpius. Lily hadn't quite let go of that hope yet.

Her feet carried her quickly to the dungeons, though she slowed down considerably when she spied the figure waiting outside her door. Her eyes glanced over a garish bouquet of flowers and she groaned inwardly; standing there was Tristan Saunders, whom she was definitely not in the mood to deal with right now.

"Lily, there you are! I'd hoped you'd be back soon. I just wanted to talk to you… about what happened on Friday."

"Look, no offence but I'm really not in the mood to talk right now." Lily replied coldly, trying to handle this as civilly as possible, but the mere sight of him had her temper escalating. She clenched her fists tightly, her right hand around her wand. "I'd appreciate it if you'd just leave."

Saunders opened his mouth to speak, but Lily interrupted him. "Saunders, I'm about three seconds away from hexing your bloody nose off, so unless you fancy the idea of Poppy refashioning the remains of your face I suggest you _back off_."

"Please let me explain, James said-"

Lily had heard enough. Instead of listening to whatever he had to say, she drew her wand and shouted the spell for the Bat Bogey Hex, watching as it spiralled toward him. She felt a mixture of vindictive pleasure and guilt as it hit him and he yelled in pain. _Well, I warned him. And he deser_-

"MISS POTTER!" Lily whirled around to see Professor Vector standing a short way down the corridor, looking as though she was so stunned she had forgotten how to be angry.

_Uh oh_, Lily thought to herself. _This __**really**__ isn't good_.

* * *

Previews

"Where is it tonight, Jamie?" he said casually, leaning against the door frame; he knew very well that James was going out with friends. "Or should I say who."

XXXX

"Come off it, Albus, do you really think things would have gone that far? They went out for what, a couple of months? I'm surprised _his_ family didn't end it earlier. Plus, she's only twenty-three, she doesn't even know what love _is_-"

* * *

**Author's Note**: So you know how I said things couldn't really get worse… I lied :p

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the characters or settings, unfortunately. That honour belongs to JKR. I just like placing them in horrible, evil situations.


	13. Guilt Complex

**Warning:** there is some coarse language (including the the f-bomb) in this chapter.

* * *

Lily shifted uncomfortably in what was usually the student's chair of the Headmistress' office. Apparently Vector had been somewhat concerned for how Lily was coping, and after finishing her workload for the day, she had decided to venture down to the dungeons to her quarters. Lily could understand Vector's surprise at the fact that of all the things she could have walked in upon, she had turned the corner to see Lily hex a fellow employee. This amused Lily slightly, but not for too long, because she knew just how much trouble she was in.

This was not like when she was a student and she had hexed Alastair Bailey for cheating on her; her parents would not be called up to the Headmistress' office to berate her or rescue her from trouble. She was a fully-grown witch, accountable for her own actions, and not only this, but she was a Professor that had just set an extremely bad precedent for her students.

Though after tonight she doubted they would be her students anymore; she and Scorpius had both been warned for yelling at each other. Physical violence was another thing entirely. In fact she half-expected her father to arrive at the Headmistress' Office to throw her in Azkaban for attacking another wizard. Miserably, she reflected that she didn't care what happened to her now. She did feel slightly sorry for her relatives, however; being the daughter of Harry Potter, this information would surely leak its way into society and spread like wildfire.

She sat there numbly as Vector spoke to her, pallid with a mixture of shock and anger. Lily barely took in a word of what she was saying, aside from the fact that she would "not tolerate this type of behaviour in my staff, no matter what they're going through!"

After the past few days, Lily was glad to be packing her bags and leaving, no matter what it meant for her future. At the moment nothing really mattered. She felt as though she was having an out-of-body experience; Lily was a passive observer of her own existence, a spectator on the outside looking into the rapid downward spiral of her life. But Lily wasn't upset, and she didn't cry; she just felt numb. She couldn't wait to go home and see her parents.

* * *

A knock on the door alerted her to the presence of someone else in her quarters. She didn't really want to turn around and talk right now, she just wanted to reflect in silence. Eventually, she turned around, and was surprised by who she saw. Standing there, a slightly wary look on his (apparently healed) face, was Tristan Saunders.

"Hi."

"Um, hi," she replied, wondering why he wasn't hiding from her in the furthest place possible. _He must think I'm psychotic_, she thought to herself, sighing. "I'm really sorry about what I did before… I just sort of lost control, I wasn't thinking straight. I'm sorry."

"That's okay… I mean I'd be angry if I were in your position, too. Granted, you didn't really give me a chance to explain myself, but… well, I thought I should make things right. I'm really sorry about Friday night," he began awkwardly, apparently trying to choose his words before speaking. "James told me that… well, he said you and Scorpius had broken up during the Christmas break. He said you were interested in me but didn't want to look like you were on the rebound, so… I probably should have asked you if it was true, before I... I'm sorry. I can't believe Vector… I can go and talk to her if you like, straighten things out."

Lily shook her head. "No. It's kind of you to offer, but there's really nothing you can do, even if you wanted to. And besides… I think I just want to go home. If I can't sort out my problems without doing something childish like hexing someone, I probably shouldn't be teaching impressionable teenagers, should I?"

They both laughed at this.

"Well, I should continue packing, and leave before any of my students come and make me explain why I hexed you," she said, returning the grin he gave her, "but good luck with them."

Tristan laughed. "Yes, good luck for the future. They say it's a small world… I'm sure we'll see each other again, so… bye for now." He extended a hand for her to shake, which she took with a smile.

"See you around."

With a nod, he left the room and Lily continued her silent packing. While going through her cupboard, she picked up the black leather book she had used to record all of her potions information in. If it weren't for this little book, it's possible she and Scorpius would never have gotten together. This in mind, she placed it as delicately as possible in her trunk before taking one last sweeping gaze at her now-empty quarters. _Well, this is it_, she thought. Picking up a handful of floo powder in one hand and her trunk in the other, she cast it into the fire and stepped into it, shouting the name of her parents' house, her destination, 12 Grimmauld Place.

It was unusually dark in the house as she stepped out onto the hearth. At first Lily wondered whether or not her parents were home, but she could see the flickering of candlelight coming from the kitchen. "Mum? Dad?"

There was movement in the kitchen. Soon enough, her mother, who seemed dressed for a special occasion, popped her head out of the kitchen. "Lily? What are you…" Ginny's eyes travelled momentarily to the trunk, and before she could meet the eyes of her adult daughter, Lily had started crying.

"Lily, what's wrong?"

* * *

Her father had soon joined them and Lily proceeded to share with them every detail of the events since Friday. Harry had been disbelieving of her claims about James, until she reminded them of his behaviour toward Scorpius on Christmas day.

She spent much of the next week sitting around the house listening to the wizarding wireless and ignoring James, who had attempted to apologise but gave up when she turned her back on him. Her parents were at a loss for what to do; Lily had, of course, dated at Hogwarts, but she had always picked the _right_ boy, it seemed, for it had nearly always ended on good terms or without much upset. They'd never seen her so upset about something before.

Ginny had tried to comfort her, give her advice, but gave up eventually. All people, she realised, Lily included, dealt with things in their own way. Harry had tried to cheer her up, joking that now she could work at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, so long as she didn't hex the customers, but unfortunately this had little effect. Usually he could coax a laugh out of her, but all he received was a small, sad smile.

Albus wasn't quite sure what to do either, but that was because he had no idea what was going on. All he knew was that Lily and Scorpius had broken up, she had been fired from Hogwarts, and that James was somehow involved. But he had no idea how all those things linked together. He'd tried to ask Lily, to no avail, which truly shocked him because out of everyone, he was always the one to succeed in cheering her up. It was frustrating knowing only sparse details.

However after a couple of days of silent observing, he noticed that James was the only one not talking to her regularly. Albus decided to take a different tack; if he confronted James about it, he could get him to fix whatever had happened or at least figure out how to deal with Lily.

Walking up the stairs, he quickly decided on a nonchalant approach; perhaps he would get more information that way. "Where is it tonight, Jamie?" he said casually, leaning against the door frame of James' room; he knew very well that James was going out with friends. "Or should I say _who_."

James snickered at the insinuation. "If only my life were that exciting, Al. I'm going to Avalon like I do every week, remember."

"Of course, how could I forget? So, I hear you're the one responsible for the whole Lily fiasco,"

James grunted, the first sign that he was about to become defensive. In Albus' eyes, that all but affirmed his guilt. There was no answer from James.

"Ah, so you _did_ break them up. I thought so. I suppose you're happy though. You wouldn't have wanted him as a brother-in-law anyway."

Irritated, James snapped back at this comment immediately. "Come off it, Albus, do you really think things would have gone that far? They went out for what, a couple of months? I'm surprised _his_ family didn't end it earlier. Plus, she's only twenty-three, she doesn't even know what love _is_-"

"Oh, so love has an age restriction now? I wasn't aware of that fact. Funny how it wasn't like that when you went out with Adrienne Dav-"

"That was different!"

"How, James? How was it any different from this?" asked Albus heatedly; he now knew this fuss was all because of James, James knew how to fix it and he was doing absolutely nothing about it. "Oh that's right, Lily didn't stoop so low as to break you up. Neither of us liked her, but you know what Lily said? As long as you were happy we'd learn to cope with it. Admit it James, you've been an arsehole, no two sides about it. She was happy and you completely fucked it up, and now you're the only one who can make things right. You can let Lily wallow away her youth in self-pity, or you can admit you're a prick and do something about it. Your choice."

Satisfied that he had made enough of an impact, Albus went up the half-flight of stairs to his bedroom, closing the door behind him. Now all he had to do was wait. James had a conscience, and if that didn't make him guilty nothing would.

James leered at the door to Albus' room, knowing it achieved nothing. He'd been feeling guilty all week; yes, he'd wanted Scorpius and Lily to break up. If she had decided to go out with Tristan it would have been even better, as James knew he could trust him. But of course, nothing had happened as he planned. His plans certainly hadn't included any form of hexing, or Lily losing her job.

Now that he thought of it, the whole time he'd been thinking of how much _he_ hated Scorpius, how much history their families had; he hadn't really stopped to think of how much the guy meant to Lily. He had assumed it had been nothing serious, but now that he knew otherwise, James had never felt more selfish or guilty in his life. He wanted to apologise to Lily, but had no idea where to even begin. Now, however, he knew he couldn't escape it. He'd just have to wing it.

* * *

Previews – Thought I'd do something a little different and have a summary and a quote!

It's beginning to seem that Lily's foolish decisions and those of her family will impact her future forever. She has two small victories, but they bring her no closer to what she really wants; Lily appears to have no intention of disturbing the perceived happiness of Scorpius. Meanwhile, Scorpius is about to make one tiny, seemingly simple choice that will place the reins of his life squarely in the hands of his father. Will they both just stand back and let it spiral out of control, or try to regain what they have lost, namely their chances of happiness together?

XXX

"Why bother talking to you when everything goes in one ear and out the other, or somehow gets lost in that empty, over-sized head of yours?"

* * *

**Disclaimer:** Unfortunately the Harry Potter universe in its entirety does not belong to me. Excuse me while I weep a little.

**Author's Note**: Random facts about this chapter: the special occasion Lily walked in on was Harry and Ginny's wedding anniversary, Avalon is a wizarding club, and another character in this chapter is effected as a result of the break up... but who, and how? And last of all, I just love Albus; he's a sweetheart. I'm quite excited about the next couple of chapters… I've written up to chapter eighteen, so if I get more reviews than usual I might update faster ;)


	14. Making it Right

"Excuse me, Mr Malfoy,"

Scorpius resisted the urge to groan as he heard one of the undersecretaries at his door. Surely there couldn't be _more_ paperwork? That's all he'd been doing for the past three days, paperwork. According to the heads of the department, it was necessary to have a great deal of knowledge of previous case studies as a guide to how to approach problems in the field. Once he'd completed this the real work would begin, and he'd be able to use transfiguration all the time. _Just like I wanted_, he thought to himself somewhat bitterly.

"Yes, Archer?"

"There's someone here to see you."

Scorpius frowned. "Is it a short girl, black or red hair, brown eyes, pretty?"

Riley Archer shook his head, laughing. "You're funny, sir. But no, it's a relative of yours. Didn't tell me who he was, but he looks just like you."

"Oh," said Scorpius in surprise, wondering what business his father had here. "Show him in."

Archer bowed his head and ducked out of the office for a second, before gesturing to the door and saying, "Just in here, sir." Nodding at Scorpius, he resumed his duties.

"Father, what are you doing here?" asked Scorpius, standing up from his desk.

"I got wind of a youth that looked as though he could be my son newly employed in the department. Naturally I had to come and see with my own eyes. Though I'm afraid I don't quite understand. Six years ago when I raised the idea, you told me rather ardently that you would be working at Hogwarts, not 'a boring desk job' at the Ministry."

"I had a change of heart," grumbled Scorpius, sifting through pages on his desk as though he was extremely busy, unwilling to look his father in the eye.

Draco eyed him sceptically. "This wouldn't have anything to do with that Potter girl, would it?"

"Yes, it did. You were right about her in every way, okay? Not that it should matter to you anyway."

"Despite what you seem to think, Scorpius, I do care for your emotional welfare. That Potter girl was not right for you, I'm glad you've realised this. Why don't you come to dinner with us tonight? You mother would dearly love to see you, she's only heard from you on paper for too long."

Scorpius nodded. "What time? Is six-thirty okay?"

His father nodded in reply. "I look forward to seeing you."

Scorpius nodded again and his father swept from the room, leaving the young wizard to his piles of paperwork.

* * *

Albus was right, and James hated him for it. He walked over to the banister. As he predicted, Lily was lying under a blanket on the lounge. _Where else would she be,_ he thought to himself. _She's hardly moved from it all week_. Sighing, he decided to bite the dungbomb and get it over with.

Lily was still listening to the wireless as he stood near the lounge awkwardly, trying to decide his approach. "Hey Lily," he said softly. "Mind if I sit down?" No response. He sat at the far end of the lounge and she moved her feet reluctantly, though not acknowledging his presence aside from this. "Can we talk?"

Lily stubbornly continued to ignore him.

James sighed. "Lily, you can't spend your whole life on the lounge, you're going to have to talk to me sometime. Come on, sooner is better than later. Just talk for crying out-"

"So what if I did?" snapped Lily. "Would you listen? You've never listened in the past. I may not have _said_ it, but I made it perfectly clear how much I liked Scorpius! And you _completely_ disregarded that, for the simple reason that _you_ don't like him. Why bother talking to you when everything goes in one ear and out the other, or somehow gets lost in that empty, over-sized head of yours?"

James sighed. "Lily, I'm really sorry about it. You're right, I don't listen…. I knew you liked him and what I did was completely selfish. I'll do whatever you want me to do to make it better. I'll march right up to his office and talk to him, anything."

"Just leave me alone," Lily mumbled.

James groaned. "Stop being so stubborn, it isn't achieving anything," he replied, frustrated. Running a hand through his hair, he decided to try again, speaking more slowly, softly this time. "What do you want me to do, Lil? If I could use a time turner to make everything right, I would, but I can't. So unless you accept my apology, there's not much I can say or do…"

Lily looked her brother in the eye for what was the first time in days. Her gaze held no anger, sadness, she just looked tired, drained of emotion. James found it somewhat unsettling, as he was used to seeing her jovial and in high spirits, or upset for some reason; her blank expression was cause for alarm. "Fine," said Lily, a somewhat grudging tone to her voice.

"Thankyou," said James with a sense of relief. "Now, when I said I'd do anything I wasn't kidding. Do you want me to go talk to him, tell him it was really my fault?"

Lily shook her head. "He wouldn't listen to me, why would he listen to you… Not that I blame him for not talking to me. I mean, would you, if the only person you'd ever trusted did something like that behind your back?"

James eyed her sympathetically. She seemed so small, insecure right now, like he was talking the downtrodden 11-year-old girl she had once been, rather than the bright, confident young woman his sister really was. "I thought you'd be better off without him… that you'd thank me eventually. I never pictured things turning out like _this_… are you sure you don't want me to even try to talk to him?"

Lily shook her head. "You've caused more than enough damage already. Don't worry, I still forgive you. But don't tell mum and dad I'm talking to you again, okay? They'll try to cheer me up again. I just want a little while to myself, to think… then I'll be back to normal, I promise."

James nodded. "Okay, I won't tell mum and dad, promise. I really am sorry, Lily."

Lily nodded, giving him a reassuring hug to ensure him she wasn't mad any more.

"You've got a letter, by the way. It's from Rose. I thought I'd give it to you before I go out." Lily nodded as he handed her the letter. James stood up and turned around to see Albus standing upstairs. Albus gave him a nod of approval that told him he'd done the right thing. A slight smirk crossed James' lips as he reached the fireplace to floo to the wizarding nightclub Avalon; he promised Lily he wouldn't tell their parents, and he wouldn't. But he never promised he wouldn't talk to Scorpius, and tomorrow, that was exactly what he was going to do.

* * *

Lily turned around as James went through the fireplace and caught sight of Albus, who had presumably overseen the whole affair; she smiled at him, knowing he was probably responsible for it, and returned her gaze to the letter as she heard his footsteps shuffling upstairs. On the front of the envelope was Rose's neat script, and it had been written on St. Mungo's stationary.

_Dear Lily,_

_I heard about everything that went on with-- well, you know. Mum said you're not at Hogwarts anymore, and I think I have a solution that will appeal to you. You might remember that I mentioned a position as a trainee Potions Specialist at Christmas. It hasn't yet been filled and I'd be happy to put a good word in if you like—I'm very persuasive, so although I heard there was a bit of a – shall we say – lack of discretion in your actions toward a colleague, I'm sure I can convince them to hire you. There are a lot of cute, single healers and patients here, and everyone's really lovely. Even if that doesn't interest you, well, a job's a job, and I know you love potions. Take as much time as you want to think about it, then owl me back with a resume and I'll forward it on._

_Love, _

_Rose_

_PS: Give my love to your parents and cousins James and Albus, you're all invited for dinner next Saturday, hopefully I'll see you then. _

Lily smiled lightly to herself. She was starting to feel better now, beginning to feel that Potter-Weasley resilience kicking in. After a rotten week, things were finally starting to look up.

* * *

Previews

"Put the wand away and get out of my office or I'll call the security wizards. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to hex you myself, but unfortunately it goes against Ministry policy."

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Harry Potter or any other affiliated trademarks, however I am in the midst of seeking the rights to write and publish a next generation novel, which will be called 'Scorpius Malfoy and the Pillar of Storge'. Unfortunately neither J.K. Rowling nor Warner Bros. have responded to my correspondence.

**Author's Note**: I was going to have two previews, but it would ruin what I'm about to say; Poor, poor Scorpius. Lily has had her two victories (her brother back, a new job), but after the choice he made this chapter (which was so tiny I won't be surprised if I get reviews saying 'huh?'), Scorpius doesn't have much to look forward to, I'm afraid…

To the anonymous reviewers loralu, and from earlier, Lila, asliceofcutiepie and i-am-the-smilie-brigade; I would say thanks by email, but that might get stuck in the junk mail… so, thankyou for the reviews! Also, I've almost finished writing the story (I like to pre-write thing, that way I can leave hints in earlier chapters), so the more reviews, the quicker I'll update :p Hmm, I'm so tempted to start another Lily/Scorpius now…


	15. Lonely Hearts Club

Standing in front of two ornate mahogany doors with an intricate silver snake for a doorknocker, Scorpius couldn't help but feel under-dressed and awkward. In fact, he wondered why it felt so odd to be standing on his own doorstep. Well, not exactly _his_ doorstep, he didn't live at Malfoy Manor anymore. He hadn't been to this place in a few years. It was almost as if his childhood here was a far-off, feeble memory, while in reality it was not so long ago that he had spent his summers here, lying on a comfortable chair in the library reading a book entitled _The Second War_.

He knocked on the door three times and heard footsteps in the Entrance Hall almost immediately. The giant doors creaked open to reveal the smiling face of a short, brunette witch with pale blue eyes. "Scorpius! Oh it's so wonderful to see you!"

"Hi mum," replied Scorpius as his mother hugged him. "It's been ages… I thought I'd bring you some flowers."

"Daffodils, my favourite," replied Astoria Malfoy brightly as they began walking toward the dining room, "Thank you Scorpius, they'll look wonderful in the study, make it a bit brighter. It's just been repainted; I think it's horrid, but don't tell your father I said that. You know, I was surprised you accepted our invitation, considering our company tonight, but-"

Scorpius froze. "Company? I thought it was just going to be the three of us."

Astoria turned around to face him. "Of course not, dear, your grandparents are here, and the Harpers. Remember Aubrey? Charming young girl, you two got along so well as children. Didn't your father tell you?"

"Conveniently forgot to mention it." Scorpius grumbled, cursing the moment his father walked into the office. He did, in fact, remember Aubrey Harper from his childhood, but not in the same way as his mother seemed to. He remembered a short, energetic, blonde girl that happened to be the devil in disguise. She always stole some kind of possession of his to make him chase her, which was not nearly as amusing for him as it was for her. Especially when retrieving that object involved climbing tall trees.

"Oh. You will stay, though, won't you? I know you don't get along with your grandfather, but surely you can tolerate him for a couple of hours? It's not impossible, I assure you, I've been putting up with both of them for my entire married life. They won't be here all night, just until dinner is over, then it will just be the three of us."

Scorpius sighed. He hadn't seen his mother for ages, and felt he at least owed it to her to stay for dinner, if only for her. "Okay, I'll stay. But if I hear one criticism from him, I'm out of here."

"That's all I expect." Astoria replied, smiling at him as she continued to lead him to dinner, an ominous feeling building up inside his stomach as his mother cheerily informed him of the events of the past few months. Apparently she had only recovered from an illness recently, and this was sort of a celebratory dinner. Purebloods would take any excuse to gather together.

Scorpius took a breath before stepping into the dining hall, where all eyes immediately followed him. Astoria announced his arrival and he greeted his father and grandparents, before she reintroduced him to Pollux and Isabelle Harper. She then led him to his seat next to Aubrey Harper.

If he had felt underdressed at the door, he felt even more so as his gaze fell upon Aubrey. Her dirty blonde hair was in an up-do that looked graceful but effortless, her blue eyes complimented by the periwinkle blue dress-robes she wore. She was undeniably beautiful, gorgeous even, but Scorpius didn't find himself immediately attracted to her like he had to Lily.

"Scorpius, do you remember Aubrey? You two were the best of friends as children." said his father. Scorpius flushed with the immediate realisation that he was most definitely being set up, an idea that didn't sit too well with him. Perhaps he would be impolite the whole night, make his father regret his decision, tarnish the impeccable reputation Draco felt he had rebuilt after the foundations had first been destroyed almost 34 years ago.

"How could I forget?" he replied, smiling through almost clenched teeth. He felt a small surge of vindictive pleasure as the young witch shifted uncomfortably in the seat next to him.

"I was such an impertinent brat as a child, I would be deeply surprised if you had forgotten," she replied, her eyes travelling awkwardly to her lap. Aubrey regained her composure despite his rudeness, and drew herself up to full height again. Giving her a sideways glance, he was surprised at the look on her face, which seemed to be a genuine plea for peace. He stared at her for a second, bemused, before returning his gaze to his plate setting.

Where was the subtly catty remark he had expected in return? Surely it would come later, if they were to speak alone. He knew this because while he hadn't known her as a teenager, he was sure that attending Beauxbatons wouldn't have made her any more sympathetic than she had been as a child. Pureblood brats like her didn't just grow to be good people. _Though I suppose I didn't turn out to be a prejudiced bigot, and we were raised in the same way…_

"I must confess," she continued, "the time Scorpius got in trouble for twisting my arm… well, he didn't actually do anything. I took his teddy bear and he didn't chase me, so I needed another means of provoking him. I was a horrible child, wasn't I?" she laughed. "I'm sorry, Scorpius, it must have been terribly annoying growing up with me. I'm surprised you always had the patience not to run at the mere sight of me."

Everyone around the table laughed at this, even Scorpius found himself restraining a laugh. "Actually, I believe you'd stolen my old nimbus, unless I'm mixing it up with another time. And if you'll recall, there were a couple of times I did, then you started crying. I always came back, and you were never actually crying. I don't know why I kept falling for that trick."

Aubrey laughed again. "You were too soft-hearted not too, I suspect." She smiled slyly at him, confirming that she had always known he would come running back if she pretended to be upset.

Exchanging a smile with her, past behaviours clearly forgiven, they returned to observe the conversation around them.

--

By the time Scorpius arrived home, dinner had become somewhat of a blur. He didn't know how it had happened, but despite his intentions to be as abrasive as possible, Scorpius found himself rather liking Aubrey. This, however, did not mean that he was impressed when his grandfather and Mr Harper decided that she and Scorpius would go on a date.

Not only this, but after the Harpers had left, he had somehow been convinced to move out of his flat and back into Malfoy Manor. His grandfather had even paid him a compliment for once, rather than criticising every aspect of his being. It was a startling change from the previous week, and he wasn't sure if this was a good thing, either. After all those years of trying to rid himself of the stigma the Malfoy family name carried, Scorpius was doing exactly what his grandparents wanted him to.

To Scorpius, nothing about the situation seemed right. For now, however, it seemed that he was going to be forced to go along for the ride; unknowingly, he had placed the reins of his life squarely in the hands of his family.

--

James walked swiftly down the stone corridor the next day. Though his expression was etched with concentration, he was slightly unsure in his step, reluctant, as though his legs were not carrying him willingly to the destination. This stemmed from the fact that perhaps, he realised, this wasn't such a good idea. It was possible James' appearance at his office would make things worse rather than better, but for Lily's sake he felt he had to at least try. He'd be forceful, to the point, but not in a way that was threatening. If all went well, maybe Lily would hear from Scorpius in the hours following. But it all depended on how articulate James was today, and the fact that his head was already hammering did not bode well.

Entering the department that Malfoy was working for (he'd checked where his office was earlier, in the atrium), James looked attentively for the plaque that said Scorpius Malfoy. He eventually spotted it, and was about to knock on the door when he was stopped by a short, peaky-looking boy that looked as though he had only recently finished schooling. "You can't go in there, sir, Mr Malfoy is busy with paperwork and doesn't want to be disturbed."

"That's probably true. But this is important," said James, slightly irritated that there was a hitch before he even put his plan into action.

"I'm sure it is, but you'll have to wait until his break, sir," replied the clearly cynical trainee.

"Listen, Mr – what's your name?"

"Archer, sir."

"Mr Archer. I appreciate your commitment, but I think you'll find the Minister of Magic will be very disappointed if I'm unable to speak to Mr Malfoy. It is of the utmost importance. May I please see him, or will I have to get the Minister himself?" he lied coolly, flawlessly, feeling rather pleased with his convincingness as the trainee's eyes widened. In mute horror, Archer stood to the side, gesturing at the door.

"Thankyou," said James as he stepped toward the door. He knocked on it, then slipped into the office and closed the door just as Scorpius looked up.

"Potter? What are you doing here? Didn't my assistant-"

"He tried to keep me out, yes, but I explained that this was important. I'm not leaving here until you hear me out. I know you don't like me, and I don't like you either," James said flatly. "I'd rather not be here but I have to do the right thing by my sister, and that means telling the truth. What you walked in on last week, that wasn't what it looked like. It was, but it wasn't Lily's fault. I told Saunders that you two had broken up over the holidays and that she was interested in him. I hoped he'd make a move on her and the two of you would break up, which is what happened… but I didn't think Lily would be so miserable. I thought I was doing the right thing, but obviously not. You need to talk to her."

"Oh, so _that's_ what really happened. Thankyou ever so much for alerting me," he replied sarcastically. "Silly me, I was expecting some kind of story about a stray manticore or a love potion, or perhaps even the imperius curse. After all, certain members of your family are positively famed for lying."

"I'm not lying to you." He said angrily. "Listen, she really-"

"No, _you_ listen for once in your life, Potter. First of all, don't try to defend your slut of a sister, I see her for exactly what-"

"Don't you _dare_ speak about her like-"

"she is. I'm _not_ interested. Second of all, I'm dating someone else, someone _faithful_ this time. That lapse in judgement is completely in the past. Third of all, kindly put the wand away and get out of my office or I'll call the security wizards. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to hex you myself, but unfortunately it goes against Ministry policy."

They stood silently, James eying him mutinously. Scorpius had drawn his wand too, using it to emphasize every point. "She's better off without you anyway. You're not even worthy of licking her boots," said James coldly as he walked to the door. He opened it and stepped out, then looked back at the blonde wizard standing behind his desk. "You'll realise you've made a mistake soon enough." With one last scowl, he stormed past, almost knocking over Mr Archer in the process.

Archer looked at James' retreating figure and then to the door of the office, where Scorpius now stood, frowning. "Sir, are you in trouble with the Minister?" he questioned anxiously.

"Archer, what on earth are you on about?" asked Scorpius exasperatedly, frustrated after his talk with Potter. "You know what, don't even worry about it. I don't want any disturbances from now on, is that clear? Unless it's the Head of Department or the Minister himself, tell them I'm busy."

"Yes sir," said Archer, having the grace to look ashamed of himself as they both returned to their desks.

--

"You're looking very bright today, Lily," James observed a few days later as he sipped his morning coffee. The incident with Scorpius had been temporarily pushed from his memory, and he was pleasantly surprised to see that Lily had been more cheerful for the past couple of days. This owed in part to the acceptance of the position of Trainee Potions Specialist at St. Mungo's.

Lily nodded in reply. "It's my first day today… I'm nervous, but kind of excited too, I guess." she replied chirpily, looking up from her marmalade on toast. "But that's not all… I've been thinking to myself a lot lately…"

"Mmm? And?"

"And I think I'm going to go and talk to Scorpius." replied Lily, smiling hopefully.

James almost choked on his coffee, the events that took place in Scorpius' office suddenly resurfacing in his mind. "No Lily, don't. I don't think it's a good idea." James replied, loath to reveal the reason why it was so; he didn't want to upset her.

Lily surveyed him suspiciously; he'd offered to talk to Scorpius himself, why was he so against it all of a sudden? Had he been counting on her saying no the whole time? She crossed her arms. "And why is that, pray tell. You were all for it a couple of days ago, or was that some sort of ruse?"

James sighed. _Damn_, he thought to himself. He really thought he would get away with it, but now he had to be the one to tell her the bad news. "I kind of already talked to him."

"What? But I told you not to… what did you say? You didn't hex him or anything, did you?"

James shook his head, avoiding her eye. "I know, but I felt like I had to at least try…" he shook his head, "no, of course I didn't hex him… it was sort of close at one point, but-"

"James, out with it already. What happened? What did he say?" Lily questioned.

James sighed. "Well, basically, he wouldn't listen to me… but that's not really the problem."

"Come on James, stop wasting time, I have to go to work soon," she replied, exasperated. "Just tell me already."

"Okay, okay. He's… dating someone else," he replied. "I'm really sorry, Lils. I didn't want to have to tell you."

"Oh," said Lily, somewhat surprised. She didn't question what James had said, because aside from the telling expression on his face, she knew he wouldn't lie to her again after the episode they'd had. "That's… um… wow, he certainly moved on fast… but that's fine, because… um, I've got to get to work now, so I'll talk to you later."

"Wait, are you okay, Lily?" he questioned, worried for her.

She plastered a smile to her face. "Of course. But if I don't go now I'm going to be late, so I'll see you later."

Before James had time to question her further, she had disapparated with a pop. He sighed, hoping she was okay. _She was so happy, for once, and I had to go and tell her that. Maybe I should have let her find out for herself… no, that definitely wouldn't help, _James pondered_. Hmm, maybe I was the problem… I wasn't exactly delicate with the issue. I think I need to enlist some help._

Nodding as he came to this conclusion, he went to the study and rummaged around for a quill and paper. Sitting down, he began writing to someone infinitely more intelligent about these matters, someone he could trust.

_Dear Rose,_

--

Scorpius sat nervously as he sat at a cosy booth in Madam Puddifoot's; in fact he couldn't remember the last time he had felt this nervous. Perhaps before undertaking his N.E.W.T.S, but that was so long ago. He hadn't even been on a real date with Lily before they'd broken up, and now he was waiting for a girl he had seen for scarcely an hour since childhood. It was odd, the way things had turned out, but at the moment he didn't want to reflect on that; it left him in a sour mood, and there was no point pondering what had happened when there was no means to change it. Instead, he was going to attempt to enjoy himself with Aubrey. It made his grandparents happy, and perhaps he'd eventually begin to feel as strongly about Aubrey as he had about Lily.

A tinkle at the front door caused him to look around promptly, but it was a false alarm; just a shabbily dressed wizard with anxious-looking pale blue eyes; Scorpius rather understood how he felt. Turning back around, he ordered a glass of water and began to trace the grain of the polished oak table in boredom. Another five minutes saw the tardy arrival of his companion, who looked slightly out of breath, with her windswept dirty blonde hair falling down to her elbows. "Sorry I'm so late," she apologised, sliding into the comfy chair opposite. "I was browsing in Diagon Alley. Flourish and Blotts has such a range… I sort of lost track of time."

"That's alright. I've only been here a couple of minutes anyway… see anything interesting?"

"Huh?"

"At Flourish and Blotts. Do you go there a lot?"

"Oh," she said, her cheeks turning pink. "A bit, I suppose. But I spend more time talking to the shop assistants than actually browsing, I got caught up in a bit of a conversation. Hmmm, our parents certainly chose an _interesting_ setting. I'm surprised we're not surrounded by lovesick teenagers or something. They really do try their hardest, don't they?" said Aubrey with a snort.

"Try their hardest to what?" he questioned, not entirely sure what she was talking about.

"To set us up."

"Oh, that. Yes, of course. Has this happened to you before?"

Aubrey nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. Last time it was with a man called Gabriel Pucey, who's _ten years_ older than me. I know it's only a decade, but we were absolute worlds apart in thought… He's a very traditional pureblood. I'm… well, I'm open-minded. My parents don't understand that purebloods are a dying breed… but brainwashed as they are, I go along with them because I love them too much to disappoint them. I suppose you probably want to run in the other direction now, right?"

Scorpius shook his head. "Of course not. Actually, I feel exactly the same way. Dinner the other night is the first time I've seen my grandparents in three years, and that's the reason why. Their views are so prejudicial, outdated… I didn't even know that they were going to be there, nor that your family would be… I'm thankful you were there, otherwise the whole night would have nauseating… even if we do seem to have landed ourselves in a bit of a situation."

Scorpius felt thankful that they had found common ground. Aubrey smiled back at him and nodded. "I'm glad too."

--

His date hadn't actually been that bad, Scorpius reflected the next day at work. After they found they had something in common, he and Aubrey had had a lengthy conversation about purebloods and their mannerisms, as well as a discussion about the wizarding wars and the roles of their own families in them. But they soon progressed to more light-hearted topics, sharing genuine laughs and smiles, something that Scorpius hadn't expected.

He couldn't decide whether he found Aubrey attractive, but was relieved that her personality had changed a lot since they were kids. Aubrey had been a pestilent child, and he had always thought she would have become a docile, trophy wife like most pureblood girls, but in fact she was surprisingly outgoing and opinionated. However there was not a great deal of chemistry between them; she was undoubtedly the perfect woman for someone, but he wasn't yet sure if that someone was him.

--

Rose had been writing a report on the condition of one of her patients when she heard scratching on the window. Looking up abruptly, a puzzled expression crossed her visage when she recognised James' tawny frogmouth owl, Silas. She wondered what on earth it could be about, considering the fact that the two of them owled each other rarely at best. Placing her eagle owl quill on the desk, she crossed the room to her window, figuring it must be something important.

Reading through the letter quickly, she frowned. James explained that he was in fact the reason Lily and Scorpius broke up, the reason she got sacked from Hogwarts; a fact Rose was unaware of. All she had known was that Lily had been fired for hexing a fellow employee. But she had forgiven James, apparently, and he was now desperate to get things back to normal. His solution to this was to ask Rose to talk to Scorpius, as they got along better and perhaps she'd have a better chance of getting through to him.

She got out a spare piece of parchment to write a prompt response.

_Dear James, _

_I understand that you feel guilty and you're worried about Lily, I am too. If Apparating to the ministry to talk to him would solve everything, I would, but for the moment I think the best thing to do is leave it alone. After all, you said Lily doesn't want to talk to him at the moment, and she certainly doesn't want you interfering; I think you should listen to what she wants this time, since that's what created the problem. She'll be angry with both of us if you drag me into it. But I will make you a promise; I'll try and convince her to talk to him, and if she hasn't done so in, say, three months, I'll go talk to him. Both of them should have had time to think about it by then. Deal? _

_Love, _

_Rose_

She looked the neat script over to make sure she had made things clear and there were no mistakes. Satisfied with her response, Rose mailed it off.

Perhaps if Rose had any idea of the impact of her own words, she would have talked to Scorpius that day; perhaps Lily and Scorpius would have seen how unhappy the other was. As it was, neither was aware of the fact, and it would be three months before they saw each other again.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Harry Potter or any other affiliated trademarks.

**Author's Note**: I tried to condense two chapters into one, but unfortunately there were quite a few things that were too important/I liked too much to cut; as a result, this chapter was super long. Also, the previews are no more because we're so close to the end of the story! Yes, the reunion is not far off, so just hold on tight until then, and I hope you enjoy the ride :)

Also, if you're interested in me writing another Lily/Scorpius when this is over, go to my profile and read my idea then vote / tell me what you think :)

loralu (I think I'll reply to anonymous reviews here from now on) - Definitely a mistake, as you can see :p Don't worry, he will, but we have a couple of chapters before that I'm afraid... I'm happy to hear that, I haven't decided whether I'll write it yet... I will before the end of this story though. Thanks for the review!


	16. Three Months

It had been three months.

Three months and she had learned so much, met so many amiable patients and attractive single Healers, each with little charms and quirks that the majority of the female Healers insisted were irresistible. It had been three months of putting one foot in front of the other, moving for the sake of it, with a sense of directionless; a couple of times she had thought to herself, _If only my life came with a map_.

It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the job. Lily loved being on her feet all day, constantly on the move making potions, helping people, and there were no papers, homework, or exams to mark, which was a definite positive in her opinion. She was cheerful in the day-to-day sense, but a wider sense of satisfaction currently eluded her. Lily knew the reason being, but felt powerless to change the situation. He hadn't listened to her when she had first attempted to talk to him, and why would Scorpius ever bother to pay notice of her again when he had such a beautiful girl on his arm already?

She had seen them in Flourish and Blotts the previous week, laughing flirtatiously with hands interlinked, and found herself grappling with an instant dislike of the stunning blonde girl. Of course, having never met her, Lily had no rational reason for this, and felt somewhat ashamed of herself after this jealous moment passed. She still cared for Scorpius so much, and the girl obviously made him happy; Lily couldn't begrudge her for that.

Silently, she had wished them luck, buying what she needed from the Apothecary and then leaving as quickly as possible with the image of their happy faces seared painfully into her mind.

* * *

Though she had no way of knowing otherwise, Lily's far-off observations and resulting conclusion of happiness couldn't have been further from the truth. He was fairly happy, Scorpius supposed. Aubrey was beautiful and intelligent, she made him laugh and smile, and they flirted and held hands, but his heart wasn't in the relationship. As far as he could tell there was something lacking on her side as well; the whole thing felt contrived, the only real thing being the apparent distance between them.

With this in mind, Scorpius was forced to wonder how he had found himself in his current situation, which was namely concerned with two things.

_Engagement. Marriage_. All of a sudden they seemed like dirty words, and he wondered how he had come to associate such dissatisfaction with what was supposed to be the happiest part of his life. _If only I'd refused to go to that stupid dinner_, he thought to himself begrudgingly, _it would have been completely different_.

Twisting the knife even further was the visit the couple had had to Flourish and Blotts last week. Scorpius had found himself bored when Aubrey initiated a long conversation with Albus, who worked there on weekends as a shop assistant, and decided to wander off. By chance, he looked out the window and could have sworn he'd seen a head of red tresses the exact same colour of hers, entering the Apothecary.

From then onward, he'd spent the whole afternoon thinking of her, what she was doing now. And what about what James had said to him? Was there a chance Potter really was responsible for the whole thing? Surely Lily would have come to talk to him herself if that was really the case. A large part of him really wished she would. Scorpius was no longer angry, he just wanted to know the truth. Was she regretting their break-up just as much as she was right now? So many questions filled his head, and he was unsure whether he wanted to know the answer to some.

Scorpius was relieved to leave Flourish and Blotts. Not because Albus wasn't his friend, but because it felt so awkward that Scorpius had dated his little sister. He was sure James had not told Albus what Scorpius had called her either, because Albus would no doubt be angry with him had that been the case. There was also the unremitting flirting between him and Aubrey, which made Scorpius slightly uncomfortable.

He was awakened from his thoughts by an irritated Aubrey. "Scorpius, are you even listening to me? This whole time walking and you haven't been listening to a word I've said, have you?" she questioned crossly.

"No, sorry. I suppose it's sort of like the five times I tried to talk to you when you were too busy with Albus back there." He replied coolly.

"Scorpius, you're grossly exaggerating. It was once, after which I told you to wait a moment and you walked off," Aubrey replied with an indignant sniff.

_Another month__ and we'll be married_, Scorpius thought to himself, _and if we carry on like this, the both of us will be either dead or with a restraining order the month after that. Unless of course she runs off with Albus. Actually, that wouldn't be too bad…_

"Scorpius, you've tuned out _again_. Either that or you're practicing selective deafness." Aubrey said exasperatedly.

"Sorry, what did you ask?"

"Is your grandmother going be there for the fitting tomorrow?"

"No. Not that I know of."

"Thank goodness. No matter how many times I see that woman she continues to strike fear into my heart."

Scorpius snickered. "Don't worry, she gets scarier," he replied in a mock-reassuring tone.

Aubrey rolled her eyes, grinning. "Gee, thanks. Speaking of grandmothers, we have to go and break the news to mine in about half an hour… I think we should go home and get ready now."

"How could I have forgotten… yes, I suppose we better leave," he replied. With one last look toward the Apothecary, Scorpius turned back to his fiancée and they apparated away.

* * *

There was a knock on the door of Scorpius' office the next day.

"Come in," he called out, looking up from the latest case.

"There's a girl here to see you, sir," began Archer. "It's the pretty red-head you mentioned. I thought you were just joking about that, sir."

At first he had assumed it would simply have been Aubrey, but at this, Scorpius' heart did a bit of a flip-flop. He felt anxious, but thrilled at the same time; was Lily here to make amends, to finally explain everything that happened?

"Oh, er, send her in," he replied, trying to neaten the piles on his desk and cursing the fact that his office had no mirror.

As the red-headed figure entered the room, his heart dropped. "Oh, hello Rose… I thought it would be… well, never mind. I haven't spoken to you in ages. What are you doing here?"

"Hello Scorpius, it's nice to see you. I realise you're probably very busy, so I won't take up too much of your time. I'm here to honour a promise to a family member," Rose began, launching straight into the matter at hand; she wasn't one for beating about the bush. Scorpius tilted his head to the side slightly in curiosity, nodding at her to continue. "It's been about three months so I thought you'd have had time to think about things by now, and you're probably wondering a bit at what happened between you and Lily, at least on her side."

Scorpius straightened up in his chair. "Well, it's of little consequence now, but you may as well tell me," he replied nonchalantly.

Rose faltered, frowning, but a promise was a promise, and surely talking to him couldn't do any damage. "What James talked to you about, the story he told you. It's completely true. At first I couldn't believe that he would do such a thing to Lily, but apparently he was under the mistaken impression that he was doing the best thing for her… coming here to talk to you was his way of trying to fix things… but I understand that things didn't go very well. But I promise, I'm telling the truth. Not only that, but I know Lily still has feelings for you."

Scorpius looked up at Rose, hardly believing her words. He was positively dumbfounded that Potter had actually told the truth…

And in return, Scorpius had threatened to hex him, sent him from the office. If he'd listened to James, gone to talk to Lily about it, perhaps he would never be in this situation. _Wonderful_, he thought, mentally hitting himself. Scorpius cleared his throat, deciding to opt for the reaction of disbelief. "And if this were true, why would Lily not come to talk to me about this herself, unless she no longer cared of the outcome?"

"I don't know," confessed Rose, throwing her hands up in the air and taking a seat in the chair in front of her. "She's impossible; I've asked a million times and she won't talk to me about it. I thought I was her confidante… but maybe Lily thought you'd never believe her anyway, or maybe she was scared to make things worse… Teddy sent me an owl about it a while ago, and I think she was counting on you staying at Hogwarts, that way you'd have to talk to her eventually."

Scorpius sighed. After hearing this, he was sick of putting up the guise of not caring, or disbelief. "I really wish she would have talked to me about it herself… I spent too much time wondering why…" he trailed off. "I wish I didn't have to say this to you, but it's too late now… you see, I'm getting married next month."

"You _what_? Next month? You've been broken up for three months and you're already marrying someone else?" Rose exclaimed, her brown eyes wide.

Scorpius sighed again. "Look, it's not like I wanted things to turn out this way, but it has, and I have to go with it-"

"But why? You _obviously_ don't love whoever you're marrying now and that's _obviously_ because you're still in love with Lily. I can't believe either of you! Why are you so afraid of one little conversation? Why are you willing to marry some girl you barely know and obviously don't love and be unhappy for the rest of your life?!"

"Rose, please calm down," Scorpius said in a firm but somewhat pleading tone. "Look, my family-"

"Your _family_? Scorpius, you've never listened to your family before, they've _never_ brought you any happiness. Lily did, I know it," Rose stopped and sighed, adopting a calmer tone. "What happened to you? You used to be completely against everything they stood for. At school you would publicly renounce them at the drop of a hat… following through with some arranged marriage is going to bring you nothing but pain, Scorpius, you realise that? _Please_, just go and talk to Lily. Even if it's just to tell her that there's no chance for the two of you. She won't move on unless you talk to her, I know it. _Please_."

Scorpius ran a hand through his hair, looking slightly paler than usual. "Fine. I've got a robe fitting right after work, but as soon as that's over I'll go and talk to her, to tell her that there's no chance and that's it."

Rose smiled softly at him, standing up and making her way to the door. "Thank you, Scorpius. Anyway, this has taken up much more of your time than I anticipated, so I'll leave you to your work. But I wish you luck for the future… I hope you'll be very happy." she replied, leaving him to his paperwork.

Scorpius stared at the door after she left, wondering how he was going to talk to Lily. It seemed so cruel to go and talk to her just to tell her that there was no chance for her. Why would Rose do that? It surely wasn't the kindest solution he could think of. However he already said he would go, and Scorpius would honour that.

_But first that blasted wedding fitting_…

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the Harry Potter universe or affiliated trademarks. However, I do own Aubrey Harper and Riley Arher, and you can't have them! Muahahaha!

**Author's Note**: Things are looking mighty grim, are they not? Scorpius is almost an (un)happily married man... If you're kind enough to leave me a review, I won't keep you in suspense too long... muahaha!


	17. Paralyzed No Longer

Scorpius sighed at the tedium of it all. "Grandmother, I'm sure the measurement was correct the first two times," he said dully. "You don't have to measure it again… so what if one sleeve is slightly longer than the other?"

Narcissa Malfoy sighed in return. "Scorpius, aren't you taking any pride in his arrangement? The whole pureblood community will be there, everything must be perfect. So what _indeed_…"

Scorpius shrugged passively. "If you say so,"

Aubrey was in the kitchen making everyone a light snack while his grandmother fussed over his wedding robes, which was evidently beginning to wear on the nerves of Madam Malkin; Scorpius felt her pain. As far as he was concerned they looked perfectly fine, with no need of alteration at all.

His mother, meanwhile, was observing the proceedings from her favourite armchair, a faint crease between her eyebrows. She got up from her chair and walked over to her pernickety mother-in-law. "Narcissa, I'm quite sure the measurements are accurate. You wouldn't want Madam Malkin to miss her next appointment, would you?"

Madam Malkin nodded ferverently, looking with gratitude at Astoria before quickly packing up her equipment and leaving the Manor. _Thank goodness that's over_, Scorpius thought to himself.

"Narcissa, would you be so kind as to allow me a moment alone with my son? I'm sure you can offer some of your expertise to Aubrey in the kitchen,"

Behind his mother, Scorpius was trying hard not to smirk. First of all, both he and his mother were fully aware that Narcissa Malfoy had never made a meal for herself in her life; his grandparents had house-elves for that. Second of all, he knew that Aubrey would be anything but thankful of her 'expertise'.

"If I must," she replied, pursing her lips and sweeping from the room toward the kitchen.

"Muffliato," whispered Astoria, flicking her wand in the direction of the door to ensure they would not be overheard. She then turned to her son. "Scorpius, is something wrong? I don't think I've seen you smile once this afternoon. In fact I don't think I've seen you smile once in the past week. If you're unhappy, tell me, please."

Scorpius took this moment to inspect the new shoes he had on, his wedding shoes; his nose wrinkled. _These are hideous_. He was aware that his mother was attempting to look him in the eye.

"Scorpius, don't do that to me. Don't avoid me like that. You are happy with this arrangement… you do love her? Scorpius, I'll be proud of you whatever the answer. I just want you to be _happy_."

Scorpius met her eyes. "I'm fine with it."

"Fine with it? What sort of answer…" she looked down at the floor for a second, considering before drawing herself up to full height. "Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, don't you evade my questions. Do you love her or not?"

Scorpius sighed. "No…" he replied honestly, "but I can learn to,"

"Learn to? Scorpius, no… no you can't… why would you consent to such a thing if you are not in love with her?"

"Because-"

He was interrupted by the sound of a knock at the front door. Astoria looked at Scorpius with immense concern. "That'll be Aubrey's parents. Scorpius, listen to me. I want you to go and have a serious talk to her. You need to decide whether this is really what you want to do, both of you. Don't think of what your father or grandparents will think; decide what your heart wants. It will change nothing if you wish to call the wedding off. Now I don't wish to pressure you, but you need to make this decision _immediately_. Send your grandmother back here to greet them. _Go_,"

Scorpius understood the seriousness of the situation, and had never been more grateful to his mother in his life; she was offering him a way out. He practically flew across the room into the kitchen, flinging the door open. His grandmother was standing at one side of the room and Aubrey at the other. "Grandmother, Aubrey's parents are here. Mother requested that you go to greet them with her."

"Very well," said Narcissa, leaving the room.

"Aubrey, is this- what's the matter? Why are you crying?"

Aubrey was red-faced, her cheeks were tear-streaked and she was sobbing.

"What happened… tell me," said Scorpius gently, embracing her softly.

Aubrey attempted to wipe the tears away. "It's alright, I'm fine, I just… I hate her Scorpius, I really do."

He stepped back and observed her sympathetically. "In that case, we need to think about what we're going to do," he began. Aubrey looked up at him, bemused. "Is this really what you want? Aubrey, you're a lovely girl, and you should be everything I've ever wanted… but I don't love you. And there's someone else you'd rather be with, isn't there?"

Aubrey sniffed to herself, nodding at him silently. "What will we do?"

"We call off the wedding," he replied simply.

"But our parents... and what about your grandparents, they'll be furious,"

"Well, first there's the fact that we'll outlive them," he began jokingly, Aubrey snorting and grinning at this suggestion, "And second, their anger will wear off eventually. But you have to understand, Aubrey… if we go through with this we're going to be miserable forever."

"But my parents… you don't know how much this will hurt them,"

"No more than it will to see you suffering for the rest of their lives. They love you, Aubrey, they may not like it but they'll come to terms with it. If they disown you for following your heart, then perhaps they really aren't very good parents after all."

Aubrey smiled brightly at him, surprising him with a strong hug. "Thank you… and Scorpius, I hope you know that you're a great person. Lily will be lucky to have you… I'm sure she'll make you happier than I ever could."

Scorpius was astounded. "How did you know about Lily?"

Aubrey grinned. "A friend," she replied teasingly, wiping any residual tears or signs thereof from her face. "Now, I suppose we'd better get it over and done with eh? The blow-up isn't going to be pretty…"

--

The blow up was, indeed, substantial. Scorpius was quite sure his grandmother had almost had a coronary, while his grandfather looked absolutely furious. His father looked most displeased, and Aubrey's parents were horrified.

Astoria, however, was beaming at him, quite understanding of the fact that he had also decided to move out, though she would be sad to see him leave. She had come up to him after Aubrey's parents had left with their daughter and his grandparents were in another room, his grandmother undoubtedly searching for the smelling salts, and hugged him warmly. "I'm so proud of you, Scorpius. You did the right thing. Now, I see you looking at your watch every two minutes, so go wherever you have to be. Maybe it would be best if you didn't return for a couple of hours, give me time to work on your father's temper, alright?"

Scorpius hugged her tightly. "Thankyou. I love you, mum." He stepped back, giving his father a nod (which, to his astonishment, was returned) before disappearing from the atrium with a pop.

--

He reappeared in the reception of St. Mungo's, reflecting that perhaps talking to his parents and grandparents was the easy part. After all, he had yelled at Lily, not trusting her enough to even hear out her point of view, insulted her quite on patrol duty, called her a slut, threatened to hex her brother… in his mind, the list carried on. What if she hated him after all he had said, and that was why she hadn't tried to see him? Perhaps he had been the one to mess things up in the end.

The nauseous feeling in his stomach only confirmed that this was perhaps to be his biggest challenge yet.

Scorpius reflected on the oddity of his situation; at the beginning of the year he would never have had the courage, the daring to even think of what he was about to do. But she had given him courage, the ability to stand up for himself and be assertive. And now, for the first time in years, Scorpius was going to go for what he wanted, risking rejection from the girl he now realised he should never have let go.

What would happen if Lily said no? He wouldn't allow himself to think of it; if he did he would end up talking himself out of it. Scorpius wanted to get this over with while the adrenaline of standing up to his family (if they didn't disown him after today) was still pumping through his veins.

Luckily he didn't need to go to the welcome witch to ask where the potions department was. He'd been to St. Mungo's when he was younger to visit his grandmother and wound up getting lost; instead of Spell Damage he had wound up in the Potions department. He walked quickly up the flights of stairs, determined upon his destination and purpose. For one of the first times in his life, Scorpius Malfoy was not going to back down.

There was however, the slight problem of his not having any idea where Lily was in the ward. The best place for him to ask someone, he figured, would be the office. It didn't seem too busy today, so hopefully no one would mind if he took away a few minutes of her time. He knocked on the door apprehensively, relieved when he realised the voice that called for him to come in was Rose's.

"Hi Rose," he said with false cheer, hiding the feelings of anxiety.

"Hello, Scorpius, how can I help you?" she asked, looking up from her work, though the look in her eyes told him she knew all too well why he was here.

"You remember what we talked about before, and, well, I was just wondering if you could tell me where Lily is?"

"Room 425, I believe," she replied matter-of-factly. "Would you like me to take you there?"

Scorpius waved her words away, shaking his head. "No, that won't be necessary, I'll find it. Oh, and Rose? Thanks." She grinned at him as he left the room, his heart pounding rhythmically.

Room 425 was only a few rooms away. Scorpius took a deep breath to steel himself, and without a second thought, walked up to the open door. There she was, her back to him, attempting to open a window so the patient could get some fresh air; Lily, having inherited her mother's body structure, wasn't quite tall enough to reach the latch of the high window. Her hair was black again, he noticed, and wondered why she had once again decided to abandon her bright, natural red.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward.

* * *

**Author's Note**: I'm sorry! I couldn't waste the opportunity to use my most evil cliffhanger ever... but don't worry, in the next chapter things really are resolved, and our story comes to an end. For now, please leave a review, and don't throw rotten fruits at me :)

**Disclaimer**: I own Riley Archer and Aubrey Harper, however everything else belongs to JKRowling.


	18. Fated

"I can help with that," said Scorpius, walking into the room and undoing the latch on the window, which allowed a gust of cool air to circulate in the room.

"Thanks, I didn't think I'd ever rea-" she began, pausing dead in her tracks when she turned around to look up at the person who had helped her. "Oh. Um… what are you doing here?"

"I, er, came to talk to you, actually… are you busy?"

Lily looked over at the patient who she was attending, who was fast asleep and snoring away. She felt somewhat awkward seeing him again, but there weren't many chances of making an excuse not to talk to him. Part of her had been hoping he would come to talk to her, but now that he had surfaced she wished she'd had some notice to prepare herself. "No, of course not… what is it?"

"Well… before I left Hogwarts, I never gave you the chance to talk to me, or tried to talk to you about what happened between you and... I've talked to a couple of people – family members of yours – and they both told me that I was wrong about what I thought had happened. I don't know exactly what happened, but I want to know the truth… and the only way to find out is to ask you. I hope – I _know_ that you won't lie to me. So, truthfully… what happened?"

Lily sighed, turning around to look out the window. "It was all of a piece to you a couple of months ago… but very well. Saunders asked me if I could help him with his sister's potions assignment, and I said yes. He thought we had broken up over the holidays and that I was interested in him, but that I didn't want to make the first move… so he did. He kissed me and then you showed up, simple as that."

"And you were never attracted to him in the first place?"

"Of course not. I told you that, but you wouldn't listen to me, you just walked off. Not that I'm one to talk, I suppose," she replied, remembering how she had hexed Saunders before he had a chance to explain; this just further proved the similarity between the two of them.

"So…" he began, stepping forward to take hold of one of her hands, "would you go back?"

"Hmm?" she questioned, turning around to look at him in bemusement.

"I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance to explain yourself. When I saw you two kissing I jumped to the conclusion that you wanted to, that you wanted _him _over me… After everything, I just couldn't believe it… I didn't want to talk to you. It hurt because you mean so much to me. And that night on patrol duty, I lashed out without knowing the full story. And for the horrible things I said – or the things I should have said, or done... I'm sorry, Lily. Would you go back to the way things were? Will you forgive me?"

Lily threw her arms around his shoulders in a tight embrace, grinning madly. "Of _course_ I forgive you," she replied happily. "Not that you should have to apologize. You weren't to blame for what happened… I should have tried harder to make things right, talked to you after you left. But I thought it would be hopeless … I'm sorry. I should have at least _tried_ to talk to you."

Scorpius hugged her tightly in return, lifting Lily off the floor before putting her back down; he smiled when he heard that girlish giggle he'd been missing for the past three months or so. "I forgive you too. I just can't believe it took me almost making the biggest mistake of my life just to come and talk to you… turns out my stubborn streak is almost as bad as yours."

Lily snickered. "Hey, it makes me what I am… don't pretend you don't love it," she replied, grinning cheekily.

"Of course I do," he grinned back, tucking a lock of black hair behind her ear without taking his eyes off hers. "I love you, Lily."

"I love you too, Scorpius,"

Lily stood up on her tiptoes and caressed his lips with hers, one hand tangled in his hair. She smiled into his lips as he lifted her off her feet once again, enjoying the warmth of his arms. Lily wished she'd never have to leave them. After what seemed like only seconds, but in reality had been much longer, they broke apart.

"Scorpius… before anything happens between us, I have a question for you," Lily asked, looking up at him with a grin on her face.

"Mmm?"

"Why are you wearing _wedding_ robes?"

* * *

That day, the two of them spent Lily's lunch hour filling each other in on what they had missed out on in the past three months.

Scorpius had missed out on a lot, including her new job; Lily made sure to describe all the attractive, single Healers she had resisted in the hopes that he would come back to her. Lily had missed out on knowing about the argument Scorpius had had with her brother ("That reminds me… I'm sorry for calling you a slut, Lily… Oh, James didn't tell you? I was sure he would have… er, never mind."), the ins and outs of his job, moving back in with his parents, and his potential marriage to Aubrey.

Despite the hardships they had endured, and those still to come, both Lily and Scorpius were both ecstatic with their lives; through their troubles, either fluke or fate had brought them together again.

* * *

**ONE YEAR LATER**

It was a sight he thought he'd never see, but to Scorpius' immense surprise and amusement, his father had actually consented to attend the engagement party. He had never seen his father more out of his depth than he did now at the Potters' house, surrounded by all of Lily's relatives. It was probably, Scorpius reflected, Draco's worst nightmare. But at the moment he didn't particularly care; he'd spent a life attending those irritating pureblood events and dinners with his grandparents, the only consolation for which was the exquisite food and the fact that they ended. Draco Malfoy could live through one night with the Potters and Weasleys, as far as he was concerned.

They had spent the first hour of the party inside where it was warm, sitting in chairs near the fire where Lily and Scorpius had shared their first kiss. Part of him, perhaps, had never expected them to reach this point, and he was all the more ecstatic for it. Before he had met Lily, Scorpius had never thought he would find someone to spend the next five minutes with him, let alone the rest of his life. He had changed so much as a person, and their situations had changed, but their love remained the same.

Now it was time for dinner, and all the occupants of the room were evacuating to the backyard to sit at the table that continued to grow larger with the addition of himself, his mother and father, and Teddy and Victoire's baby daughter, Marise. But before he could join them, there was a question Scorpius had been burning to ask for a long time. "Hold on a second, Rose. I need to talk to you about something,"

She nodded at him, and the others filtered out into the backyard to join their companions in raucous laughter.

"There's something I've been wondering for ages… that day when you came to see me at my office. Why did you tell me to go and say goodbye to Lily?" he questioned curiously. "Surely you knew things would have really been final if I did that."

Rose smirked mischievously. "You _clearly_ still loved Lily. I knew you wouldn't be able to say goodbye. My suspicions were that it would in fact have the opposite effect, and I was correct."

Scorpius snickered. "I should have known you had some kind of sinister ulterior motive. But for the record, thanks for sorting me out. If it weren't for you..."

"Don't worry about it," Rose interjected, the two of them exchanging grins. "Just remember this when you two are deciding the godparents of your children, okay?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "I'll keep that in mind, Rose. We better get outside, just in case our fathers are at each others' throats again."

"I suppose you're right. I've already lost count of the thinly-veiled insults… and that was just the greeting."

They rejoined the rest of the group to find Draco's father looking very uncomfortable indeed. He had a very sour-looking Ron on one side (_Who arranged the seating plan?_, Lily wondered) and Astoria, who looked positively delighted to be there and was chatting animatedly to Ginny, on the other.

"Did you hear?" Lily was asking her cousin Lucy as Scorpius sat down next to her. "Albus is finally introducing us to his new girlfriend. He's been so secretive about it all, either she's a vampire or he's trying to keep her away from James. I'm so happy for him… but it's too late for him to win that bet we made as kids. I _told_ him I'd get married before him." She turned to grin at her fiancée, who rolled his eyes playfully at the usual gossip-mongering of his soon-to-be-wife and in-laws.

Lily heard her mother's voice from the lounge room. "Albus, you're finally here! And here's the girl I've heard so much about. It's lovely to finally meet you."

"Albus is here! Come with me and meet his girlfriend," she said animatedly, dragging Scorpius out of his chair. "I hope she's nice."

Once they reached the entryway, both stopped dead in their tracks.

"Aubrey? What are you…? _Albus_?" Scorpius' jaw dropped. He'd thought about Aubrey running away with Albus, but only as a joke. How could he have been so… right? He resisted the powerful urge to rub his eyes to ensure he wasn't dreaming. They seemed to like each other when they spoke at Flourish and Blotts, and Aubrey mentioned going there often, but had they been together all this time?

"Wait a second, Aubrey was your mystery woman? The one you were sending owls to at Christmas?" Lily questioned, gob-smacked.

Albus nodded. "Her parents are very strict, so we had to keep it secret… when your parents decided to set you up," he nodded from his girlfriend to his soon to be brother-in-law, grinning, "I was sure it would be the end of things. Funny how things worked out, isn't it?"

Lily and Scorpius were both too shocked to think of something coherent to say, and luckily they were saved by James, who had come to meet Aubrey. Albus eyed his older brother suspiciously as James kissed his girlfriend on the hand, to which Lily grinned and attempted to restrain a laugh; some things just never changed. She took Scorpius' hand and led him back to their seats as the others settled into conversation with Aubrey.

"Well, I never thought I'd be seeing her again," Scorpius admitted.

Lily grinned. "I think we'll be seeing a lot more of her now. And now that she's not dating you, I don't have to hate her."

Scorpius snickered, smiling at her. He tucked a tendril of auburn hair behind her ear. "You never had anything to worry about, Lily. I love you,"

"I love you too." Lily took his hand in hers, closing her eyes as Scorpius leaned forward to captivate her with a tender kiss.

Even though the past fifteen months had inexorably lead them back to the start, Lily and Scorpius had a newfound understanding, a greater appreciation of the other that could never have been gained from what had been a perfect relationship. It was odd for them to believe that the imperfections had taught them to love each other more, but one thing was for sure; now they knew that the smallest things often have the biggest consequences, neither Lily, nor Scorpius, was willing to let a simple thing threaten their love again.

* * *

**Author's Note 1**: In the absence of a sequel, here is some random trivia!

Both Scorpius' grandparents passed away before Scorpius and Lily got engaged, a fact that was secretly relieving to both Scorpius and his mother, because he would surely have been disowned if they were alive.

While Draco never became fully accustomed or even accepting of his new in-laws, he learned to tolerate (and dread) Christmas dinner with them. Unfortunately he and Ron haven't stopped insulting each other, but they've become more subtle. Harry is a little more accepting of Draco than Ron is, and is very accommodating toward his son-in-law.

Lily and her mother have a monthly outing with Astoria, who had always wanted a daughter herself, but conceded that a daughter-in-law is practically the same. Lily was secretly terrified of her mother-in-law at first, believing her to be disapproving of their relationship, but a couple of questions to Scorpius proved this far from true.

James doesn't antagonize Scorpius anymore, or vice versa. While they mumbled apologies for their respective behavior, they prefer to stay out of each other's way. Albus was quite delighted with the way things turned out, but Scorpius will never get used to having Aubrey as a sister-in-law. Rose smirked the whole way through the ceremony, and constantly reminds them that things may not have turned out this way if not for her.

Scorpius finally broke the Malfoy family one-son tradition, a fact that his mother was ecstatic about, as were his mother and father in law. Draco never said it, but for him, Lily and Scorpius' two daughters signified the inevitable death of the Malfoy line. Despite this fact, along with the impure heritage further up the family tree and their trademark Weasley hair and freckles, he did learn to love his two granddaughters very dearly, even though the mental image of 'Draco Malfoy – doting grandfather' fails to materialize.

As for Lily and Scorpius, their first fight was not the last. But despite the imperfections married life, in a wizarding world where the statement 'death do us part' no longer stands forever, Lily and Scorpius were one of the couples that managed to make it work, remaining together until their last breaths.

**Author's Note 2**: I can't believe it's finally over. – sniff sniff. blows nose on hanky - I had a lot of fun writing this story, so I'm writing another Lily/Scorpius (first chapter now posted). I hope you'll check it out. / end shameless self-promotion

Now that's over, I'd like to say thank you all of the lovely reviewers over the chapters for motivating me, especially those of you who were regulars and left me wonderful comments after almost every chapter! I really appreciated everybody's feedback, so thanks for sticking with the story even when things were moving really slowly. I hope you liked the last chapter, and that it was worth it :)

Love, Juliet

xoxo


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